St. Charles North's size sinks Glenbard North

Halfway through the regular season, St. Charles North's girls basketball team has experienced a little bit of everything.

Some tough losses - check.

Injuries and illnesses - check.

A rugged first-half schedule - check.

After losing the last 3 games at the prestigious Dundee-Crown Holiday Tournament, the North Stars (8-6) regrouped and kicked off the 2015 portion of their season with a convincing 52-29 nonconference triumph over Glenbard North Tuesday night in St. Charles.

"We'll get there," said North Stars coach Sean Masoncup. "This is one of those games you want, to get everybody in and get everybody refreshed and start the New Year with a win."

Trailing 6-4 midway through the first quarter, the North Stars seized control with a 14-0 run that helped open an 18-6 advantage.

Sophomore guard Sami Sample came off the bench to score 5 consecutive points during the early surge, including her 3-pointer that broke a 6-6 deadlock and put the North Stars ahead for good.

Sample finished with 10 points and 3 assists while receiving additional playing time due to the absence of senior guard Ashling Davern (injury).

"She's going to help us," Masoncup said of Sample. "We need her to be successful. She was being aggressive tonight."

Junior forward Claire Jakaitis (11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocked shots) tallied 4 points during the North Stars' 10-0 run early in the second quarter that extended the lead to 28-8.

St. Charles North held the Panthers (6-9) without a field goal in the second quarter while building a 36-12 halftime advantage.

"Credit to them," said Glenbard North coach John Chamberlain. "They took us out of our stuff and they got in their stuff pretty flawlessly."

The North Stars capitalized on their superior height with 6-foot-2 Jakaitis, 6-2 Anna Davern (5 points), 5-11 Lizzy Olsem (5 points, 5 rebounds), and 5-11 senior Nichole Davidson leading the way.

Taking over a role as somewhat of a "point" forward, Davidson finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 7 assists - many of which resulted in easy layups for her teammates.

"We definitely used our bigs a lot this game," said Davidson. "We knew we had a size advantage and we definitely took advantage of that."

"She's a wing and she's learning the position," said Masoncup. "She can do everything. She has been sick, too. She has been dealing with something nasty for the last week and a half."

"They did a great job feeding the post," Chamberlain said of the North Stars. "I thought at a couple different points, 'wow, she threw that lob in from 25 feet - great pass.'

"I wouldn't say our concepts were bad but we got outmuscled and outworked inside for sure. We just weren't quite ready to play. We had some issues with kids missing practice and that's never fun to deal with."

Junior Jennifer Deegan led the Panthers with 15 points and 9 rebounds.

"She shoots a good percentage, she attacks and she's skilled," Chamberlain said of Deegan. "She's what we need a lot more of."

The North Stars received 28 points from their bench, including 7 points from junior guard Abaigeal Tarpey.

With school canceled Wednesday due to frigid temperatures, St. Charles North will begin focusing on Friday's Upstate Eight River clash against Batavia.

"We're hoping that we're able to get one (practice) in on Thursday and go play on Friday," said Masoncup.