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Several Tri-Cities teams playing at high level

Time for some random thoughts ...

• After watching St. Charles East's basketball team scorch the nets for 18 3-point baskets during last Saturday's 70-36 victory over West Chicago, perhaps future Saints opponents should borrow an alleged page from the New England Patriots.

Try deflating a few basketballs.

The team that shoots together stays together.

Seniors Jake Asquini and Cole Gentry connected on five 3-pointers apiece for the Saints against West Chicago while 7 other players added shots from beyond the arc.

They certainly made a lasting impression on Wildcats coach Bill Recchia.

"When a team shoots like that, my hat's off to them," said Recchia. "We knew we had a tough battle coming into this (game). It was one of those games. They put the ball in the hole."

Recchia knows something about making shots.

A 1983 graduate of West Chicago, Recchia was the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer with 1,461 points before current Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne freshman John Konchar eclipsed the mark (1,551 points) last season.

At one time, Recchia also was the career scoring leader in the DuPage Valley Conference (815 points) before he was surpassed by West Aurora graduates Juwan Starks (834) and Jontrell Walker (842).

It's players, not plays.

Some would disagree with that assessment but I believe that coaches choose the players they want on the court at certain times and try to put their teams in the best situations to win.

St. Charles East basketball coach Patrick Woods certainly has put his team in good situations this season.

The Saints currently own a 16-2 record.

"We like to space the floor," said Woods, whose team has made more than 125 3-pointers this season. "When you've got guys keying on (Jack) Bronec and Cole (Gentry), others get the wide-open 3s.

"It's kind of pick your poison. Play us however you want but we'll find the reads. Our offense is not structured like some schools are. It's all about reads and we work on those reads. Ultimately, they'll become better basketball players because of that."

• Circle the date February 19 on your calendars.

It is the day the Illinois High School Association announces its regional pairings for the Class 4A boys basketball tournament.

At Geneva, all 4 Tri-Cities teams will converge with 1 goal in mind - survive and advance.

As of Monday, St. Charles East, Geneva (17-2), St. Charles North (12-7) and Batavia (13-10) own a combined record of 58-21 (. 734 winning percentage).

The importance of earning the No. 1 seed in the 5-team regional could loom large.

It could mean not having to face the second- or third-seeded team until the regional championship.

Here's another date that could help determine the top seed - Feb. 5 - when St. Charles East visits Geneva in the second meeting between the Upstate Eight Conference River Division foes. The Saints won the first matchup, 77-69, on Dec. 13 in St. Charles.

One thing I'm sure of - the team that emerges from the Geneva regional will have earned it.

• While I'm on the subject of postseason talk, I'm also looking forward to next week's Class 4A girls basketball sectional tournament seedings and regional pairings.

It is my belief that Geneva, St. Charles East and St. Charles North have strong enough resumes to draw top-4 sectional seeds. That would place the Tri-Cities powers at separate regional sites.

We'll see what happens.

•St. Charles East senior guard Katie Claussner showed plenty of resilience this past week.

After being held to 9 points - 5 of which came in the final minute - in a 61-43 loss to St. Charles North on Jan. 17, the 5-5 Claussner sandwiched a pair of career-high 30-point performances against Conant (Jan. 20) and Geneva (Jan. 24) around a 12-point, 5-assist, 5-rebound effort against Bartlett (Jan. 23).

The Saints (13-7) went 2-1 for the week and climbed within a game of UEC River leading Geneva with Saturday's 66-54 victory over the Vikings in Mack Olson Gym.

St. Charles East girls basketball coach Lori Drumtra may have found a gem in freshman Sara Rosenfeldt.

The 6-foot forward recorded a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds during the Saints' 69-58 win over Bartlett last week.

"We can all take a lesson from her," said Drumtra. "She doesn't know how to not play hard. That's the way she comes to practice every single day. It's awesome to see.

"She never takes a possession off. She gets winded sometimes but it's never, 'OK, I'm not focused this possession.'"

In 2 games against crosstown rival St. Charles North, Rosenfeldt has led the Saints in scoring with 17 and 11 points, respectively, while also hauling down 16 rebounds.

•Don't look now but St. Charles North's girls basketball team is beginning to hit its stride.

Winners of 7 of their last 8 games, the North Stars (14-7) have excelled at both ends of the court lately. Led by recent 1,000-point club scorer Nichole Davidson, the North Stars have averaged 61.7 points over their last 8 games while only allowing 40 points per contest.

"Our goal is to keep people out of the lane," said North Stars coach Sean Masoncup.

Davidson and juniors Claire Jakaitis and Morgan Rosencrants form a solid front line for the North Stars while senior guard Ashling Davern and junior guard Kyla Helsel have improved their offensive numbers the past 3 weeks.

With 5 regular-season games remaining, the North Stars could surpass the 20-win plateau if they can continue their late surge.

• Perhaps it was because Geneva hosted the UEC wrestling tournament last weekend but I'm hoping that all future Batavia vs. Geneva basketball games are played on weekends.

While I'm a big fan of the girls/boys varsity doubleheader, I was disappointed to see it scheduled on a Thursday last week.

• One of the best basketball games of the season will be played tonight at St. Charles East.

The Saints' boys varsity team will take on the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 Illinois Special Olympics basketball squad in an annual event that always provides plenty of smiles and perspective.

Go District 303 ISO!

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com

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