Geneva's hot shooting sinks St. Charles East
Geneva's Leah Palmer admitted there was a little different feeling prior to her team's girls basketball game against St. Charles East Tuesday night.
Last February, the Saints ended Geneva's postseason hopes with a 43-42 Class 4A sectional semifinal victory.
"Even before the game, there was a little more tension - a competitive feeling," said Palmer. "We wanted to go out there, play our hardest - to come out strong and play strong."
Palmer and her teammates certainly met the challenge, as the Vikings (15-2, 6-0) extended their winning streak to 10 games with a convincing 62-35 DuKane Conference victory in St. Charles.
"East brings out the most competitive side in us," said Palmer.
The 5-11 junior guard/forward tallied a game-high 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field, grabbed 9 rebounds and had a pair of steals for the Vikings, who jumped out to a 14-4 first-quarter advantage.
She saved her best marksmanship for the second quarter when she hit all 4 of her shots, including three from beyond the arc, as the Vikings extended their halftime lead to 32-15.
"I work so hard on my shot," said Palmer. "Some games, it gets frustrating when I'm not hitting but today was very rewarding.
"We were able to use East's help defense to our advantage and get some wide-open shots."
"Leah had a great first half - she didn't miss," said Vikings coach Sarah Meadows. "We said at halftime that the basket for Leah is 'this big' right now (spreading her arms out). She was a huge factor for us in the first half."
The opening half ended on a crescendo for the Vikings.
With 0.6 seconds remaining, it appeared Geneva would be satisfied to take a 29-15 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
Cassidy Arni had other ideas.
"Cass said, 'can I shoot it, and I said, sure,'" said Meadows.
Palmer heaved a desperation pass to Arni (9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), who dribbled to her left and launched a shot just inside halfcourt that found the bottom of the net for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
"Coach Meadows said, 'wind it up, Leah,' and I just chucked it down there," said Palmer. "In typical Cass fashion of course, she hit a buzzer beater."
"Caroline (Madden) goes and sets a screen, Cass takes off and Leah chucks it," said Meadows. "Cass practices those shots all the time. She loves those. She did that at Morton (holiday tournament), too."
Senior forward Lauren Slagle scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half, as the Vikings pulled away from the Saints (7-9, 1-4). Slagle also collected a game-high 11 rebounds with 3 blocked shots.
Rilee Hasegawa and Kinsey Gracey chipped in with 6 and 5 points, respectively, for the Vikings, who made 9 of 17 3-point attempts.
Lexi DiOrio led the Saints with 9 points, while Emma Yakey added 6.
"When they (Vikings) shoot like that, I don't know what to tell you," said Saints coach Josh Foster. "They're consistent in what they do. They hit you with fundamentals. What killed us was that they just couldn't miss."