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St. Charles East advances, earns 20th win

St. Charles East freshman Sara Rosenfeldt shrugged off the notion that she might have felt a case of nerves heading into the Saints' Class 4A girls basketball regional semifinal game against Glenbard North Wednesday night.

Playing in the first postseason game of her high school career certainly didn't appear to bother her.

The 6-foot forward poured in a game-high 16 points on perfect 8-for-8 shooting from the field and grabbed 9 rebounds while leading the fourth-seeded Saints (20-7) to a 67-48 victory over the 14th-seeded Panthers (11-15) at St. Charles North.

"It was just like any other game," said a calm and collective Rosenfeldt following the Saints' ninth consecutive victory. "It was a lot of fun because my team helped me a lot."

Two of Rosenfeldt's 4 baskets came on offensive rebounds as the Saints jumped out to a 19-15 first-quarter advantage.

"She was all over the boards," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra. "First playoff game and she comes out here and does that. It's probably good that she hasn't been through it before."

Glenbard North continued to hang around, staying within 26-21 midway through the second quarter.

However, the Saints closed out the quarter on an 8-2 run, fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Kyra Washington, to extend their halftime lead to double digits at 34-23.

Washington scored all 15 of her points in the opening half - all coming from beyond the arc.

"Kyra had a great first half," said Drumtra, whose team will face crosstown rival St. Charles North in Friday's regional championship. "I'd like her to keep shooting. I think she thinks she's shooting too much but she's not."

Led by junior Jennifer Deegan (16 points), sophomore Zakiya Newsome (10 points) and freshman Leah Miller (9 points, 6 rebounds), the Panthers trailed 46-36 with 2:13 left in the third quarter.

That was as close as they would come as the Saints scored 9 unanswered points to extend the margin to 55-36 with 6:12 remaining.

The run included 5 points from sophomore guard Samantha Munroe (14 points, 4 assists) and a layup by senior forward Chloe John (8 points, 8 rebounds).

Senior guard Katie Claussner added 6 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds for the Saints.

"I think maybe Katie was a little tight in the beginning," Drumtra said of her team's leading scorer. "She was pressing a little but let her press tonight. She needed to get that out of her system."

Reaching the 20-win mark was a rare milestone for the Saints.

"This is my 10th year of coaching and this is only the second time we've had 20 wins," said Drumtra. "The last it happened was my second year in 2006-2007."

Senior Sarah Petzold added 8 points and 8 rebounds for the Panthers.

"They hit the boards and got second shots," said Panthers coach John Chamberlain. "We hit a little offensive lull when they changed things up (defensively). We haven't been dealing with that matchup zone real well this year.

"Our three leading scorers tonight are all coming back," added Chamberlain. "We have some big shoes to fill but hopefully that bodes well for the future."

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