Rogers breaks another Lake Park record in win vs. St. Charles North

A big smile creases Brian Rupp's face as he remembers watching Darrione Rogers at her eighth-grade orientation night four years ago.

"She went to Sam Arnold's picture and took a picture of it," Rupp, the Lake Park girls basketball coach, said of Arnold, the Lancers' all-time leading scorer. "That's all motivation for (Rogers). She wanted to beat (Arnold). ... She's driven by those types of things. She walked in here and she wanted to be the best."

Samantha Arnold French and Kelly Miller had their Lake Park jerseys retired at Alumni Night after the Lancers overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat St. Charles North 51-43 in a DuKane Conference game. So Arnold French was in the building to see Rogers break another of her school records, this one all-time 3-pointers made.

Rogers, now a senior who entered the game with 189 made 3s, tied the record with her third of the night with 5:06 to play in the fourth quarter, giving the Lancers (11-4, 3-1) a 45-37 lead. Just 39 seconds later Rogers broke the record to make the score 48-40.

"I had no idea, so it's just a blessing honestly," Rogers said about the record with a laugh. "It's fun. Records are made to be broken. I'm just playing ball and having fun."

Rogers made five 3-pointers on the night and led the Lancers with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 6 steals.

"Some of the things we were trying to do, we were trying to limit (Rogers)," North Stars coach Mike Tomczak said. "But what that did, that allowed us to not be able to rebound on the back side, and that was really hurting us. So when we went away from that, we were rebounding more effectively, but she was hitting some shots and three of the 3s that she hit in the fourth quarter, they were beyond the volleyball line, and they were heavily contested. Those are shots that you take your cap off and you say, nice shot, because we defended those things well."

The all-state guard/forward now owns eight Lake Park records.

"It's cool, it's really cool," Rogers said. "It's just nothing but respect. She's a great person. And so honestly it's just an honor."

St. Charles North (9-7, 2-2) looked like it would spoil the Lancers' night when they stormed to a 23-13 lead just more than two minutes into the second quarter.

"I thought we had great energy coming in," Tomczak said. "The girls were real positive, shooting the ball with confidence. I thought we were prepared for a lot of the stuff that we had seen."

But Lake Park cut the lead to 27-25 by halftime, then took the lead for good on a Sara Balli 3-pointer nearly two minutes into the third period.

"Defense," Rogers said, explaining the comeback. "They scored 10 points between the second and third quarters, so that was the big difference for us. We came out aggressive on defense and it led to us scoring on offense."

"We just locked it down," Rupp said. "(The North Stars) were pretty hot, though, the first couple of minutes, though too. Let's give them credit. They were making shots."

Senior point guard Leilauni Chanthaboury led the North Stars with 18 points, 10 of them in the first quarter. Tatum Settelmyer and Emma Nawara added 8 apiece.

"Leilauni Chanthaboury came in and really set the tone for us early," Tomczak said.