St. Charles North tips South Elgin
Kate Booe went from hero to goat and back to hero again — all in the final 17 seconds Wednesday night.
The 5-8 senior forward grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback to give St. Charles North a 46-45 lead over South Elgin with 17 seconds remaining.
It wound up being the game-winning basket, as the second-seeded North Stars (16-13) escaped with a 47-45 victory over the third-seeded Storm (12-15) in the Class 4A regional semifinals at St. Charles East.
“I saw the ball go up and my first instinct was to get the ball,” said Booe, who shared team scoring honors with Tess Fischer with 11 points apiece. “Even before I took it down, I saw that no one was on me so I went and took the shot.
“When it went in, I was so pumped.”
But things certainly got interesting in the final seconds, as South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast called a timeout to set up a play with four seconds remaining and the ball under the North Stars’ basket.
While the North Stars double-teamed star junior guard Becca Smith (18 points), Savanah Uvegas inbounded the ball to sophomore Kara Rodriguez, who was fouled in the act of shooting with 2.5 seconds left.
“I lost track of the girl for a second and she cut right past me,” said Booe. “My first instinct was to go up for her to miss the shot but my hand did come down on her.”
Rodriguez missed the first free-throw attempt, and after a North Stars timeout, she misfired on the second try with Booe hauling down the rebound and splitting a pair of free throws with 1 second left.
“Kara is a tremendous athlete,” Prendergast said of Rodriguez, who finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. “I figured she was going to put them in.
“I feel bad for her because she probably feels like it was her fault that we lost,” Prendergast added. “But we had so many other opportunities to win this game.”
Clinging to a 1-point lead, the Storm went to a delay game on three separate occasions in the final three-plus minutes. Each time, the possession ended with a turnover.
“In the fourth quarter, we had so many opportunities to get this game to 4 or 5 (points),” said Prendergast. “We had a lot of good looks but we couldn’t put the ball in the basket. And we’ve got to take care of the ball. We didn’t, and that’s why they won the game.”
The North Stars received solid contributions from seniors Taylor Russell (7 points), Sydney Russell (6 points, 7 assists), Leah Horton (5 points, 8 rebounds) and Amanda Ciran (4 points, 6 rebounds).
“You saw some nice senior leadership out there at the end,” said North Stars coach Colleen Brennan, who employed a box-and-1 defense on Smith (guarded by Sydney Russell) throughout the first half before switching to man-to-man in the second half.
South Elgin was held to just 3-of-23 shooting from the field in the second half but kept battling, as Smith converted 9-of-10 free-throw tries in the final 16 minutes.
“The last game of the year is always the hardest loss, especially when it’s a 2-point game,” said Prendergast. “It hurts big-time.”
St. Charles North, meanwhile, advances to tonight’s regional title game against top-seeded Geneva, which defeated St. Charles East 82-45 Wednesday.
“We’re excited,” said Brennan, of her team’s third clash this season with the Vikings. “It’s a great situation to be in for us.”