St. Charles East battles by rival St. Charles North
A month ago St. Charles East's girls basketball team walked out of the St. Charles North gym at the lowest point of their season, an 18-point drubbing that left senior point guard Katie Claussner in tears.
Friday night St. Charles East returned and Claussner again had a tear or two - but nothing but happy ones accompanied by the biggest smile you could imagine.
This time the Saints left the St. Charles North gym with the nets in hand, a prized possession following a 60-49 victory over St. Charles North for their first regional title since 2009.
"It's so surreal," Claussner said. "This is something I've dreamed of ever since middle school basketball. It's awesome. We focused a lot in practice on inspiration. We were a little down after our last defeat. But we came in and played the best game we could and we played fantastic."
That the Saints (21-7) did, leading almost the entire way for their 10th straight win, a run that started after a 70-64 loss to Conant on Jan. 20.
Now it's No. 1 seed Conant who is up next for the fourth-seeded Saints on Monday at the Class 4A Geneva sectional.
"I think the girls felt like they had something to prove because that last game (61-43 loss to St. Charles North) was so bad," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. "Such a spanking. They came in here very determined."
Before leaving for the game, Drumtra showed her team video from that loss with eight points of emphasis she wanted to see them correct. One of the keys was keeping up with the North Stars' inside game of Nichole Davidson, Morgan Rosencrants and Claire Jakaitis.
While St. Charles North (19-9) did win the rebounding battle 38-27, the Saints hustled all night to stay close and battled for several key second-chance opportunities.
That tone was set on their first possession of the game when freshman Sara Rosenfeldt pulled down three offensive boards which led to Chloe John's game-opening score on the team's fourth shot attempt.
"We knew rebounding was going to be a big key to this game because they obviously are great rebounders," Rosenfeldt said. "We just knew we had to believe in ourselves. We helped each other out."
Drumtra also wanted to keep the attacking North Stars off the free-throw line. St. Charles North got to the line just twice in the first half.
While the North Stars did end up making 16 of 20 free throws in the second half, the Saints were able to outscore them there for the game, 22-18.
"It was crazy," said sophomore Samantha Munroe, who led all scorers with 18 points. "We came in here and I knew it was going to be a rough game, very physical but we pulled it out with a team effort."
After an early 7-2 Saints lead, the North Stars scored 9 straight including an Ashling Davern 3 and a high-low feed from Jakaitis to Rosencrants to take their biggest lead of the game, 11-7.
The Saints went back up in the second quarter 16-13 when Hannah Vitkus came off the bench and rebounded her own miss and knocked down a short jumper. They led 20-19 at halftime, holding North Stars' leading scorer Davidson to 2 points with another adjustment from the last meeting and Kyra Washington drawing the defensive assignment.
"Kyra, that's a lot of height there," Drumtra said. "I thought she played really well. And we didn't allow runs."
St. Charles North led just once in the second half, 22-21 on a pair of Davidson free throws.
John put the Saints back ahead with a nice left-handed finish on an inside move. Munroe followed with a 3-pointer on an assist from Claussner to give the Saints a little cushion, 25-21.
"Katie found me open and I hit it," Munroe said. "Everyone kind of got pumped up and increased our intensity after that and kept the lead."
Even after Washington went to the bench with 3:54 left in the third quarter with her fourth foul, the Saints kept extending the margin. Claussner immediately followed that foul by grabbing a rebound and taking the ball the other way for a layup while getting fouled for a 3-point play and a 32-23 lead.
The Saints led 35-28 going to the fourth quarter. The North Stars got as close as 37-32 before Munroe knocked down another 3 for an 8-point lead. After Rosenfeldt drove for a basket to make it 44-34, the Saints led by double figures the rest of the way.
St. Charles East made 16 of 21 free throws in the fourth quarter. On one of the rare misses Washington grabbed the offensive rebound, scored and was fouled - her first field goal of the game.
The Saints got plenty of other contributions from Munroe, Claussner (14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists), Rosenfeldt (10 point, 7 rebounds) and Vitkus (7 points) for their first title since upsetting the Kelsey Smith-led 2009 North Stars.
"They played so well, so hard," Drumtra said. "They kept their composure at the end. I'm so proud of them."
Rosencrants (13 points, 12 rebounds), Davidson (13 points), Jakaitis (12 points) and Davern (7 points) led the North Stars.
"We didn't play our style, we didn't push the ball a lot, we kind of played their game and slowed down the game," Davidson said. "Our defense was not top notch either. We were not boxing out well and we need to do that with Sara.
"We're proud because we had a good season but we're a very competitive team and we're upset and disappointed about it because we thought we could rattle them. It just wasn't our night."