St. Charles North overtakes St. Charles East
Abby Tarpey walked out of St. Charles North's locker room following a 51-46 win over St. Charles East Saturday with a well-earned prize in her hands.
Tarpey was carrying a yellow hard hat, awarded to the hardest working North Star in the game. Tarpey won it without scoring a point, instead helping the North Stars to a come-from-behind win by grabbing a game-high 8 rebounds despite being their smallest starter.
"It's a big symbol for our team," Tarpey said of St. Charles North's new award. "I was so nervous. At the beginning of the season I didn't get a lot of time. My teammates really helped me gain confidence."
Tarpey made her first start of the season Saturday as coach Sean Masoncup went away from starting three bigs to get another guard on the court.
"Abby Tarpley had a great game tonight," Masoncup said. "She has steadily come along. Leading rebounder for the smallest player on the court shows the heart of that kid."
St. Charles North (5-2, 1-1) needed those contributions, along with 17 points and 8 rebounds by Claire Jakaitis and 10 points each by Morgan Rosencrants and Sammie Sample, to overcome the hot-shooting Saints.
St. Charles East (2-7, 1-2) led for much of the game. The Saints made 6 of 11 3-point attempts in the first half, including a last-second swish from Ashley DiOrio, to go into halftime up 26-21.
St. Charles East finished with 10 3-point baskets and just 5 2-point baskets and 4 free throws.
Kelly Rinker led the way with four 3s and Sam Munroe sank three.
Munroe scored all 7 of the Saints' points in the third quarter as they built a 32-25 lead. The North Stars answered with a basket by Anna Davern, a jumper from Jakaitis and a Rosencrants putback to pull within 32-31 after three quarters.
Jakaitis, who scored 15 of her points in the second half, opened the fourth quarter with another basket to put the North Stars ahead to stay, 33-32.
"We got into a lull in the second quarter but in the second half it was our game and we found the high-low post and started to run and were doing things right," Jakaitis said.
Trailing 37-33, Sara Rosenfeldt connected from 3 to bring the Saints within a point. After 5 straight points from Jakaitis, Rinker drilled her final 3, closing the gap to 42-39 with three minutes left.
The Saints, though, never got closer as the North Stars scored almost as many points in the final quarter (20) as they did the first half (21).
"We put ourselves in position to win and we did not finish very well at the end," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. "Defensive lapses, rushing it a little on offense which allowed them more looks. Too many second-chance points. I feel like I've been saying this after every game, but we are improving."
Rosenfeldt and Munroe both scored 14 points to lead the Saints with Rinker right behind with 12.
The North Stars won the rebounding battle 39-21, limiting the Saints to 1 offensive board.
"Good team win," Masoncup said. "I think we started doing what we are supposed to do. We started imposing our will and making sure we got the looks we should get. I thought we settled down and were moving the ball much better in the third and fourth quarter where in the second quarter we were one pass and jack.
"That's (Saints' 3-point shooting) lights out and we found a way to keep coming back. To be able to come back against a good team is always nice. We move on to the next one. This is not the pinnacle of the year."