St. Charles North rolls behind interior play

Claire Jakaitis, Nichole Davidson and Morgan Rosencrants had usual individual quarters for St. Charles North on Thursday.

The girls each had double-digit outputs against Larkin in an Upstate Eight River game in St. Charles.

The North Stars scored 20 points in each of the first three quarters in downing the Royals 74-49.

"There is no other team in the area that has that kind of size - other than Geneva," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said of the North Stars' superior inside play against the overwhelmed Royals.

Larkin (3-8, 1-4) was competitive early, seizing the lead three times in the opening quarter.

But Jakaitis' 5 first-quarter field goals enabled St. Charles North (7-3, 3-2) to take the lead for good.

In a precursor the second quarter, Davidson had a putback at the first-quarter buzzer to give the North Stars a 20-14 lead.

Larkin would close its deficit to a mere point early in the second quarter when the entire nature of the contest was altered.

Davidson, who would score 13 of her game-high 22 points in the quarter, converted 3 of 4 free throws awarded when the Royals' leading scorer, Marlee Kyles, was ejected for arguing a traveling call.

Larkin never truly recovered as St. Charles North closed the half on an 18-7 run to forge a 40-26 lead at the intermission.

The North Stars then scored the first 16 points of the third quarter.

"Once that happened the air was let out of the balloon," Larkin coach Ruben Flores' said of Kyles' back-to-back technical. "For the most part, we had a good game plan against St. Charles North. The girls were hanging tough."

After missing the entire second quarter with foul issues, Rosencrants returned to score 12 of her 13 points in the third quarter.

The North Stars' lead reached its apex, 56-26, when Rosencrants personally concluded a 7-0 run.

"I have to stay out of foul trouble," Rosencrants said. "I know that sometimes it happens."

But the Royals never could find a remedy to counteract the North Stars' interior size.

Jakaitis (14 points) and Davidson combined for 36 points and dominated the glass on both ends.

"We didn't come out and do as well as we could have," Davidson said of the Royals' early competitiveness. "Me and Claire were connecting with each other. We definitely had a big size advantage and we definitely took advantage of it."

Quixmia Washington was the lone player to score for Larkin the third quarter.

The guard, despite major foul trouble the entire game, led the Royals with 18 points.