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St. Charles East tops Batavia, sets up showdown Friday

Lori Drumtra didn't want to look ahead the past few weeks, but now she's got no choice. The only game left on the schedule is an absolute gem.

St. Charles East finished taking care of business Tuesday, following wins over St. Charles North, Elgin and Streamwood with a 54-45 victory at Batavia, setting the stage for a winner-take-all battle at Geneva Friday night.

The No. 8 Saints (22-4, 10-1) and No. 4 Vikings (21-4, 10-1) will play for the Upstate Eight Conference River Division championship, St. Charles East trying to reverse a 63-52 loss in the first meeting despite 38 points from Saints junior Sara Rosenfeldt.

"This is where we wanted to be," Drumtra said. "It should be a good game. Both of us have a lot riding on it. Ultimately you want the conference championship coming down to the last game."

Rosenfeldt also led the Saints Tuesday with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

"It's amazing," Rosenfeldt said. "This has been an unforgettable season so far. It's going to be a big game. It's always fun to play against Geneva because they are all good players."

Batavia (7-21, 3-8) celebrated its senior night against the Saints, and coach Kevin Jensen gave the class of Morgan Erickson, Shannon King, Alex Piron, Mackenzie Foster, Elena Cabrera, Stephanie Rodriguez and Kaley Lorenz plenty of playing time.

Foster opened the scoring, and after a Sam Munroe 3-point basket for the Saints, Lorenz knocked down a jumper to put the Bulldogs up 4-3.

Rosenfeldt quickly gave the Saints the lead back by scoring inside while being fouled, and they never trailed again. Marissa Urso's drive capped the first quarter for a 15-6 lead, which swelled to 36-15 at halftime behind 15 points from Rosenfeldt and 8 from Munroe.

The Bulldogs battled throughout the second half, outscoring the Saints starters 12-10 in the third quarter and then pulling even closer with an 18-point fourth quarter. Hailey Orman's second 3-pointer, another by Lorenz and a layup from Erickson in the final minute got the margin under double digits.

"They played extremely hard and gave us a fighting chance," Jensen said.

Lorenz led Batavia with 15 points and Cabrera added 8.

Munroe (12 points), Urso (8) and Ashley DiOrio (7) complemented Rosenfeldt. The Saints won despite 19 turnovers, which Drumtra knows won't cut it Friday.

"We definitely need to play better than tonight," Drumtra said. "Hopefully whatever it was they got it out of their system. It was pretty sloppy tonight. Turnovers and I wasn't pleased with our defense overall."

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