advertisement

St. Charles East beats Wheaton Warrenville South in overtime

St. Charles East girls basketball is 2-0; you just have to look at the schedule like sophomore Torrie Kortan does.

"In the second round of conference (play), we've won two so far," Kortan said with a wide grin.

Success is relative and with the DuKane Conference out of reach, Kortan and the Saints (8-18, 3-6) are looking on the bright side. And in their situation, it doesn't get much better than Thursday night's 44-41 overtime road win against conference foe Wheaton Warrenville South (4-16, 2-8).

Kortan took over in the extra period, scoring 3 points, grabbing 3 rebounds, recording an assist and taking a charge all in the game's final four minutes.

Kortan's free-throw shooting put her team up 42-41, but her late assist was the big play the Saints needed.

Off an errant free throw, Saints forward Gabby Schmidt nabbed the rebound and got it to Kortan, who found a streaking Emma Yakey downcourt for an uncontested layup.

The play mimicked a drill the Saints run in practice.

"It was kind of instinct because we do it every day," Yakey said.

The 2-point basket was a rare feat for Yakey on the night. She spent most of her time behind the 3-point line.

  St. Charles East's Victoria Kortan and Wheaton Warrenville South's Mia McCoyd, right, battle for a loose ball in a girls basketball game in Wheaton Thursday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

The freshman sharpshooter drilled a personal-high five 3s en route to a game-high 17 points.

"She's a gift and that's what she brings to the table," Saints coach Aubree Schuett said. "Three more years of that I'm good with."

The St. Charles East victory avenged a 12-point, early-season loss to the Tigers, who didn't give it away easy.

Early on a defensive showdown was under way, with the teams fighting to a 2-2 first-quarter score.

Things got a bit more offensive in the second quarter, as the Saints used 4 points from Kortan and a 3 from Yakey to enter halftime with an 11-7 lead.

But things changed after halftime, as both teams found a higher gear, more than doubling their first-half output in the third.

WW South's Carly Briggs scored all 9 of her points in the period. Mia McCoyd added 6 of the Tigers' 21 points in the period.

"It just comes down to making plays, it really does," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "The first half we just shot bad. We had great looks, just didn't shoot well. Second half we started knocking them down and turned into a possession game with them."

The Saints held off the Tigers' third-quarter haymaker thanks to Yakey, who drained three of her 3-pointers in the quarter to keep things tied at 28-28 heading into the fourth.

In the final quarter Katie Kroehnke scored 5 for the Tigers, while Makenna Brown added 4 for the Saints as the teams traded baskets.

A drive and score from WW South's Izzy Grutzmacher tied the game at 39-39 with 20 seconds to go and led it to overtime.

"I thought we hit some big shots at certain times," Rob Kroehnke said. "We're just not in that situation a lot and I think we answered it well."

  Wheaton Warrenville South's Allyson Maher reaches for a rebound against St. Charles East in a girls basketball game in Wheaton Thursday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

In overtime the Saints outlasted their hosts to get their third league win of the year and third straight feel-good outcome - two wins and a narrow loss to conference leader Lake Park on Jan. 24.

"I think today was a great example of something we've been talking about all season long and that's getting them to believe what they are capable of as a group," Schuett said. "We've put a string of a couple real quality games together here. For us this is good, this is big, not only finish this season strong but this is going to carry us right into next season."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.