St. Charles North surprises Geneva
Same matchup, same drama, same intensity, same up-and-down pace.
New winner.
Seniors Sydney Russell and Tess Fischer both scored career highs Tuesday leading St. Charles North to a 59-57 victory over Geneva in the first Upstate Eight Conference River Division game for both teams.
Both Russell and Fischer were in the starting lineup last February in the regional championship game between these teams when Geneva won 47-45 at the buzzer.
Kat Yelle drove and dished to Lauren Wicinski for the winning basket that night. Yelle again had the ball in her hands with the clock winding down Tuesday, driving and finding Sammy Scofield for a 14-foot baseline jumper that rimmed out.
St. Charles North grabbed the rebound, the clock hit zero and the celebration began.
“It means a lot especially for the game we lost last year,” Fischer said. “I don't think any of us have ever felt that happy in our whole entire lives. That just sets up the rest of our season. If we can take Geneva I think we can take any team. Out of any game I've ever played that is the biggest win.”
Fischer scored 22 points and Russell had 20 for the North Stars, while Geneva's top two scorers matched them identically with Yelle's 22 and Ashley Santos' 20.
St. Charles North (3-2, 1-0) won the game by getting to the free-throw line 30 times and making 18 to Geneva's 7 of 18. The Vikings were just 4 of 12 in the fourth quarter.
“I could tell they had more heart tonight and wanted it more than we did,” Yelle said. “In the end heart is what allows you to do whatever you want on the court. I think we came in here thinking we were going to beat them. I'm really impressed with how they played against us and we underestimated them.”
Geneva led the entire first half. The Vikings took an 8-point lead on three different occasions and each time the North Stars chipped away.
Foul trouble hurt Geneva. The North Stars outscored the Vikings 12-1 from the line in the first half to trail just 29-27 at halftime.
“We saw the refs were calling fouls on everything so we kept taking it too them,” Fischer said. “We knew if we could get some of their key players out of the game that would be a huge turning point for us.”
One of those key players was Santos who was in foul trouble most of the night and picked up her fourth with 6:39 remaining.
Geneva scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take its biggest lead, 36-27. After eight turnovers in the first quarter, the North Stars took better care of the basketball. They reversed Geneva's 9-point lead with three straight 3-pointers by sophomore Alex Silverman, Russell and Fischer, the final one giving the North Stars their first lead at 41-40 midway through the third quarter.
“We really kept our composure,” North Stars coach Colleen Brennan said. “We were confident with the ball against their pressure. We made some bad decisions but we overcame them.”
Geneva never regained the lead. The Vikings tied the game at 42, 44, 54 and 56 after the North Stars had taken their biggest lead at 53-47.
Russell's strong drive for a basket with 2:31 left gave the North Stars the lead for good at 58-56. The Vikings had five chances to tie but turned it over twice, missed a shot and made just 1 of 4 free throws to trail 58-57.
Trailing 59-57, the Vikings got one last chance when the North Stars missed two free throws with 12 seconds left. They pushed the ball up court and had Yelle driving down the lane when assistant coach Tim Pease called timeout with 7 seconds to go.
Geneva got the ball back in Yelle's hands and she created a good look that didn't quite drop. After seeing Montini snap its 57-game regular season wining streak Saturday, Geneva (3-2, 0-1) now has two straight losses.
Yelle did everything she could to prevent this one with 6 assists and 6 steals to go with her 22 points.
“I'm not used to losing regular season games so it's really weird,” Yelle said. “They definitely gave us everything they've got. They were the better team tonight.”
While Fischer and Russell provided most of the offense, the North Stars got gritty efforts by several other players. Katie Booe pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, Taylor Russell added 9 boards and Megan Booe chipped in 7 points off the bench.
“Team chemistry out there was great,” Sydney Russell said. “That's what we needed. It wasn't just one person. Every single one of us contributed out there and that's what made it work.”
Geneva didn't shoot well against the North Stars' 3-2 zone, the third straight team that has zoned the Vikings. The finished 25 of 74 from the field and missed all nine of their 3-point attempts.
St. Charles North also was coming off a loss Saturday, to Providence. Brennan liked their decision making better.
“We love playing this team (Geneva),” Brennan said. “Those kids play hard, we have a lot of similarities. It was a great game, tons of intensity on both sides and we're really excited about the outcome.”