St. Charles North surprises DKC leader Geneva

There wasn't much doubt about which end of the court made the difference in St. Charles North's 42-31 win over DuKane Conference leader Geneva on a rare 4 p.m. late afternoon game Tuesday in St. Charles.

The North Stars pride themselves on defense, allowing the lowest average per game in their sectional field. Geneva (16-9, 8-2) never got anything going, making just 6 of 27 shots from the field in the first half to fall behind 24-15 at halftime.

"We do the shell drill every day in practice 30 minutes over and over again and it's definitely paid off," North Stars freshman point guard Emma Ludwig said.

Ludwig also helped St. Charles North (14-10, 5-5) take care of the basketball against Geneva's press, denying the Vikings many of the breakaway layups off steals they normally get - and had just five days earlier in Geneva's 52-43 victory. She said the North Stars put in a new press breaker just before the game.

Geneva made just 10 field goals in the game on 21.2 percent shooting.

Caroline Jakaitis, Makenna Collins, Emma Nawara and Annie Tate joined Ludwig in the starting lineup. The five played almost the entire game.

"We have athletes who want to get after it and get on the floor and defend and hang their hat on their defense," said St. Charles North coach Mike Tomczak whose team has won 4 of 5 including Saturday's 56-38 victory over No. 7 Lake Park.

"It's all good to say when you are playing teams that can't score 70 points a game but when you have a performance like that it sort of solidifies the things we have been doing all year. It's (our defense) been good."

The North Stars took a minute off the clock on their opening possession, patiently waiting for Ludwig to penetrate and pass to Jakaitis for a baseline jumper. Lindsay Blackmore tied the game with a basket but a Collins steal and 3-point play on her layup put the North Stars ahead to stay.

Collins assisted Nawara on a layup to start the second quarter, then Jakaitis grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Tate for a jumper for a 17-8 lead. St. Charles North outrebounded Geneva 38-25 led by Tate (13 rebounds) and Ludwig (9).

St. Charles North took its biggest lead at 36-22 with five minutes remaining. Geneva got as close as 37-31 on Cassidy Navigato's corner 3-pointer with 1:12 left, and after the North Stars missed a 1-and-1 had a chance to make it 37-34 but Blackmore's 3 from the top of the key rimmed out. Ludwig sealed the win going 4-for-4 at the line.

"It's not an accident," Tomczak said of Ludwig's 9 rebounds. "The kid has a nose for the ball. She's been doing it for years. Watching her growth and evolution this year has been phenomenal. She's just a calm presence. The sky is just the limit for that kid."

Along with Ludwig, Nawara (9 points), Tate (7), Collins (6) and Jakaitis (5) did all the scoring for the North Stars. Blackmore led Geneva with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Kelly McCloughan added 7 points and 6 rebounds.

Thanks to Batavia's win over Wheaton Warrenville South, the Vikings maintained their 1-game lead over the Tigers and Wheaton North. Geneva has another difficult task Thursday night against Batavia in a game Meadows said might get played even with school canceled.

"We just didn't have it offensively," Meadows said. "We missed so many layups we almost put a crack in the backboard. For as bad as we played I looked at one point and there was 26 points and there's only one time that it's been good we had 26 points and that was last year at state. When was the last time we scored 26 points and the game was almost over?

"We just have to put the ball in the hole. That's the bottom line. That's how you win a game."