Turnovers cost St. Charles North

It’s one thing to be generous during the holiday season.

It’s another to give away the basketball during the holiday tournament season.

St. Charles North’s girls basketball team was unable to overcome its “generosity” during Tuesday’s 50-32 quarterfinal loss to defending tournament champion New Trier (10-4) in the 28th annual Charger Classic Tournament at Dundee-Crown.

The North Stars committed 19 of their 30 turnovers in the first half as they fell behind 27-13 at the intermission.

“We didn’t value the basketball very well today,” said North Stars coach Colleen Brennan. “In a way, we never really had control of any part of the basketball game. We had a hard time with composure and making good decisions.”

St. Charles North (6-6) stayed close at the outset, as Tess Fischer’s 3-pointer from the corner narrowed the Trevians’ lead to 10-9 with 2 minutes left in the opening quarter.

But New Trier took off from there, scoring the last 8 points of the period as part of an 11-0 run that helped extend its lead to 21-9 early in the second quarter.

Maggie Lyon, the Trevians’ 6-1 senior guard, scored 6 of her game-high 20 points and recorded 4 of her 5 steals during New Trier’s 9-4 second-quarter surge.

“The first couple quarters was just us going out there and freaking out, I guess people would say,” said senior guard Sydney Russell, who scored all 8 of her points in the second half.

“We prepared for this game mentally knowing this was going to be a really good team (New Trier) but we didn’t come out with the energy that we usually have.”

Facing an all-state candidate like Lyon definitely posed a challenge for the smaller North Stars.

“We don’t play against many 6-1 guards,” said Russell. “We just had to pressure her and get in her face as much as we could. But she’s a great player.”

Sophomore Alex Silverman led the North Stars with 11 points, including three of her team’s six 3-pointers, while Fischer finished with 5 points, 4 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

“We had a hard time fighting through pressure, making good decisions, and being confident enough on the court to see opportunities — and being comfortable having the basketball and creating things,” said Brennan.

St. Charles North cut the deficit to 13 on separate occasions in the third quarter but Lyon made sure the North Stars would get no closer with her 14 second-half points. Jessica Blackwell added 7 points for the Trevians, who also enjoyed a 15-4 edge in bench scoring.

“We didn’t want to anything wrong independently for our team which caused us to do everything wrong,” said Brennan. “We weren’t confident enough in taking challenges.”

St. Charles North will face Naperville Central Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s fifth-place game (won by the North Stars).

“We’ll move forward from here,” said Brennan. “It’s a great tournament and we’re excited about it.”