Inside game propels St. Charles East past West Chicago
St. Charles East's game plan for Thursday's girls basketball matchup at West Chicago was simple: work the ball inside for easy baskets against the smaller Wildcats.
At least it seemed simple enough.
To the coaches' surprise, the Saints opened the first quarter employing just the opposite strategy, misfiring on 6 out of 7 three-pointers and falling quickly behind 10-4.
But an early timeout by Lori Drumtra gave East's coach the chance to remind her players of the game plan and right the ship. The Saints promptly attacked the lane the rest of the way, outscoring West Chicago 15-2 to build a 19-12 lead en route to a 57-19 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory.
"It took us a little while to get going," Drumtra said. "We were settling for too many 3-pointers early. I just reminded them that we needed to get some inside touches in the lane. Then we started getting the ball inside and got our offense going from there."
With West Chicago's tallest starter only 5-feet-9, the Saints' 6-0, 6-0, 5-9 frontline took advantage, particularly Sara Rosenfeldt. The 6-0 freshman notched a double-double in the first half alone, pouring in 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds against the Wildcats' 3-2 zone. As a whole, the Saints outrebounded West Chicago 39-24.
"I saw I could get some boards against their zone since it's harder to box out in a zone defense," Rosenfeldt said. "We weren't as aggressive early, but we got more aggressive late in the first quarter and the second quarter."
The Saints (14-7 overall, 7-2 UEC River) continued expanding their lead from there. Senior point guard Katie Claussner's driving layup made it 27-14 at halftime, and East stretched its advantage to 41-15 through three quarters. The Saints' variety of defenses smothered West Chicago, holding the hosts to seven points over the final three quarters.
"We were changing defenses quite a bit," Drumtra said. "We used a couple of different zones as well as man-to-man. We want to keep teams from getting into an offensive rhythm."
After losing 58-28 at St. Charles East in December, West Chicago (8-16, 4-8) gave a determined effort to tip off the rematch. The Wildcats slowed the Saints' offense, broke their full-court pressure and executed their offensive sets for an early 6-point lead, capped by a layin by junior forward Bria Williams for a 10-4 edge.
"West Chicago is a well-coached team," Drumtra said of Kim Wallner's squad. "They always play hard, and they make you play hard, too. You have to keep talking to your team about not overlooking any team no matter how the last matchup went, especially on their home floor."
After experiencing a five-game losing streak, the Saints are playing some of their best basketball of the season with the postseason just weeks away. East knocked off a pair of ranked teams, Bartlett and UEC River leader Geneva, before Thursday's victory. The Saints hope to extend their win streak to four when they host Batavia at 6 p.m. Saturday.
"Beating Geneva on Saturday gave the girls a lot of confidence," Drumtra said. "Beating a team of that caliber that went to state last year gave the girls a big boost. I think it showed them what they are capable of as a team."