St. Charles North's offense stays hot vs. Batavia

Reagan Sipla says her rising confidence is coming from her teammates.

"Everything [just comes from the] energy on the bench, the energy from all the players, it all comes together," said Sipla, a St. Charles North freshman, after the North Stars' 71-58 win over Batavia on Saturday. "Then, I know it's time to go to the rim strong and try to finish."

Sipla scored on a couple of layups at the end of the third quarter Saturday, but it's her rebounding and energy atop the high post that provides a more complete picture of the impact and growth she is having on the varsity level.

"I just look at going [into] each play and doing the best that I can. Because I know if each player is doing their best, [we'll] get the outcome that we want," said Sipla, who finished with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

Off the North Stars' bench, Eva Saltsman snagged a number of key rebounds in the second half to complement a 3-pointer. Those rebounds led to second-chance scoring and St. Charles North's ability to head into the final quarter up 24 points.

"Those types of performances often go unheralded, I think, but in the third quarter, Eva had a big shot, had a couple real big boards. Strong boards," North Stars coach Mike Tomczak said. "Reagan did the same thing."

"Reagan was attacking from the high post, which we wanted her to do," Tomczak continued. "She got in some early foul trouble, so she couldn't get into the rhythm of the game. But, when it was her time in the third to do the things we talked about doing, she was able to execute. Her energy, the plays she put through, kind of really lifted the whole team."

Batavia (3-6, 2-5) clawed back in the fourth quarter as Tessa Towers battled foul trouble. Towers scored 10 of her 21 points in the final quarter to help pull the Bulldogs within 10 with 2:30 remaining, but the North Stars kept the lead with free throws, reinserting several starters and winding out the clock to finish things off.

The North Stars (7-1, 6-1) were led by Alyssa Hughes' 18 points. Talia Pellegrini followed with 13 points, while Tatum Settelmyer and Erin Stack both had 9 points.

"It's frustrating, because a varsity game in the DuKane Conference, you got to play 32 minutes," Tomczak said. "You can't stop even for a minute, regardless ... It wasn't the back end of our bench that was in, we had mostly starters on the floor. We took our foot off the gas, three or four turnovers in a row, couple big shots by [Batavia] and now you got yourself a 10-12 point game."

"The last thing I wanted to have to do was have to put some of our bigs back in the game considering we have a back-to-back tomorrow," Tomczak said. "But we needed to do what we needed to do to finish the game out."

Brooke Carlson and Nicole McLaughlin each had 10 points for the Bulldogs, while Alyssa Sarik had 9 points.

"It's been kind of a season thing: We've kind of had an issue with our third quarters," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "The third quarter was just tough. They're [North] really good offensively. Every single girl in their rotation is capable and has the green light to shoot it.

"It felt like when we derailed a little bit, they didn't miss anything. That's the part we've got to do a little better with is just if we get off track, see if we can get back on."