St. Charles East upsets top seed Conant
St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said her team has another gear, and the Saints shifted into it Monday night in the second half of the Class 4A Geneva sectional.
The result was a stifling defensive effort, holding No. 1 seed Conant to 8 points in both the third and fourth quarters. The Saints went on a 17-1 run spanning those two quarters to break open a 2-point game and win going away, 62-47 - much to the delight of a large and loud St. Charles East crowd.
The fourth-seeded Saints (22-7) advance to their first sectional championship game since 2005. They will play the winner of Tuesday's semifinal between No. 2 Geneva and No. 6 Bartlett for the title at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Conant (23-6) led 31-28 at halftime behind 19 points from sophomore Jorie Wachal. The Saints switched 6-foot senior Kyra Washington to Wachal in the second half and the Conant star only scored 2 more points on a pair of free throws with 3:10 remaining. By that point her team had gone from the 3-point lead to down 18.
"I just tried to stay in front of her, get through all the screens and every time she got the ball I just got low on defense," Washington said.
While Washington stuck Wachal, Hannah Vitkus came off the bench to guard the player Washington started on, Katherine Lomas, and Samantha Munroe chased Nireet Dhillon, who scored 22 points in the Cougars' earlier win over the Saints.
Dhillon finished with 7. Conant made just 5 of 20 shots in the second half.
"It always start with defense," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. "We needed to pick it up. I think the adjustments we made defensively made a huge difference. I think we pushed them out of their comfort zone. Taking away their best player kind of rattled them a little."
After 9 ties or lead changes in the first half, the teams were again locked in a tight game when Alexandra Zades drove for a basket to bring Conant within 41-39 late in the third.
Saints senior point guard Katie Claussner hit a pullup jumper, then after Washington blocked a shot Claussner scored on the other end for a 45-39 lead going to the fourth quarter.
That sequence brought the Saints crowd into the game, and the momentum continued with a 5-point possession early in the fourth. Claussner, who started dribbling through the Conant defense at will, scored while being fouled. She missed the free throw but the Saints got the rebound and the ball eventually ended in Munroe's hands for a corner 3 and a 50-39 lead.
"No. 11 (Claussner) is the best point guard we've played all year," Conant coach Deirdre Naughton said of the Washington University bound senior. "She controlled the game in the second half. She's a great player. Not only is she lightning quick but she's under control when she does it. She knows when to pass to her teammate, she knows when to take the ball to the basket. She is really, really under control for being so quick. We've played four top 10 teams and she's the best I've seen."
By the end of the 17-1 run the Saints led 58-40. Claussner had 8 points and a pair of assists to freshman Sara Rosenfeldt during the surge.
"It's amazing to be able to make it this far, to keep winning and play amazing basketball and beat teams that beat us before," Claussner said of the team's 11-game winning streak that includes wins over three teams - Geneva, St. Charles North and now Conant - the Saints had lost to earlier this season. "It's a great feeling."
Claussner led the Saints with 21 points, 15 in the second half, and also had 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Washington scored 20 points - 14 in the first half on 4 of 5 shooting from the 3-point arc. Rosenfeldt added 13 points.
"They played well the whole game but especially the second half," Drumtra said. "We were patient on offense. It's hard to stop both of these guys (Washington and Claussner). Kyra lit it up in the first half. I thought Katie got to the basket a little more in the second half and broke down their defense."
St. Charles East also outrebounded Conant 27-22 and took away Conant's transition game in the second half. After the Cougars got the free-throw line 33 times in their previous win over the Saints, they attempted 15 fewer Monday.
Naughton's team graduates 10 seniors including starters Danielle Engelbreit, Lomas and Haley Anderson.
"These girls have given everything we could have asked for these last four years," Naughton said. "They have changed this program. When they look back on these four years that's what they are going to think about. They have worked tirelessly the last four years."