Late run lifts St. Charles East over Batavia

There is a TV show called "Minute to Win It" where contestants have 60 seconds to complete a predetermined challenge.

It took a little more than a minute but St. Charles East's girls basketball team seized control of its Upstate Eight Conference River Division game with Batavia during a late fourth-quarter surge Saturday night.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kyra Washington and Samantha Munroe fueled an 8-0 run over a 1-minute, 8-second stretch as the Saints (15-7, 8-2) rallied for a 59-48 victory in St. Charles.

Consecutive layups from Shea Bayram (9 points) helped give the Bulldogs (13-13, 5-5) a 45-43 lead with 4:32 remaining.

That was when Washington received a pass from Katie Claussner and canned a 3-pointer near the top of the key and Munroe (7 points) hit a clutch 3-pointer of her own from the wing to put the Saints in front, 49-45.

"When we hit those two 3s, that was a key for us," said Washington, who finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds. "We got pumped up and we were able to keep the lead."

"Sam has hit some big ones," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said of Munroe. "That was another one."

Moments later, Munroe completed a fast break with a layup to extend the lead to 51-45.

Free throws from Hannah Vitkus (6 points, 5 rebounds) and Claussner pushed the Saints' lead to 55-45 with 1:09 remaining.

"Up until that point, it was back and forth," said Drumtra. "I knew it was going to be a tough game like that."

The second half included 6 ties and 7 lead changes - the last coming when Washington knocked down her third 3-pointer of the game with 4:09 left in the game.

"She's just doing whatever we need," Drumtra said of Washington. "When we need a good pass, she'll find the open person. When we need a 3, she'll make one. She shot that one 3-pointer from 3 feet behind the line."

"I really think we lost on the two 3s they hit in a row," said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen. "I thought we did a pretty good job on their top three (Claussner, Washington and Sara Rosenfeldt). The Munroe girl - I saw her at Geneva and she looked really good but you can't focus on four (players)."

Claussner battled through an illness to score a team-high 17 points with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

"I knew Katie wasn't feeling well but I thought she played well," Drumtra said of Claussner, who tallied 15 second-half points.

Batavia got a game-high 27-point, 9-rebound effort from junior forward Hannah Frazier, who also received a scholarship offer from DePaul this past week.

"When they went zone (defense), we drove gaps," said Jensen. "We've been trying to get them to do that all year and we hadn't done it."

Jessica Koch had 7 points and 4 rebounds while Bethany Orman added 3 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists for the Bulldogs.

"I really would have liked to have this one because it would have gone into our (sectional) seeding information," said Jensen. "But I'm not disappointed at all. It's not like football where you get to game plan for a week. We game planned and focused on specifics in one day and we executed it almost to perfection."

Chloe John and Rosenfeldt had 6 points apiece for the Saints, who stretched their winning streak to 4.

"I would say we are definitely starting to play with more confidence," said Drumtra.