Cary-Grove shuts down St. Charles North
Cary-Grove's girls basketball team takes playing defense seriously.
“Defense is our first offense it's what we work on the most,” senior forward Claire Jakubicek said after helping lead the Trojans (8-1) to a convincing 54-28 nonconference triumph over St. Charles North (4-3) Tuesday night in St. Charles.
The Northern Illinois University-bound Jakubicek, who set a new school career scoring record in last Saturday's victory over Johnsburg, tallied 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first half as the Trojans built a 24-10 advantage.
Jakubicek and fellow senior co-captain Megan Straumann (11 points) each had 3 of the Trojans' 17 steals while effectively taking the North Stars out of their offensive game plan.
Cary-Grove led 12-2 after one quarter and 17-2 before the North Stars finally recorded their first basket of the half on Amanda Ciran's bank shot with 6:28 remaining in the second quarter.
“We just want to come after you and make you worry about taking care of that basketball instead of looking over the top and trying to run your offense,” said Trojans coach Rod Saffert.
“You hold a team to 10 (points) in a half that's extremely helpful.”
Jakubicek single-handedly outscored the entire North Stars' team with her 12 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor, including a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers.
“We were ready to play this game,” said Jakubicek. “We knew they had beaten Geneva so we wanted
it even more.”
St. Charles North made just 2 of its 18 field-goal attempts in the first half while committing 15 turnovers.
“I think tonight's outcome had more to do with where our confidence level was with the basketball,” said North Stars coach Colleen Brennan. “If you're so worried about handling the basketball, your shot is not going to be where it needs to be.”
After falling behind by 17 early in the third quarter, the North Stars cut the deficit to 33-20 on a putback by Tess Fischer (team-leading 8 points) before the Trojans answered with an 11-2 surge, ignited by a 3-pointer from sophomore Olivia Jakubicek (8 points, 6 rebounds).
“I know we're capable of that,” said Saffert. “It was just nice to see what we finally are truly capable of. Why did it happen? I think we just had more intensity obviously on the defensive end.”
Joslyn Nicholson also added 8 points for the Trojans.
Senior guard Sydney Russell had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals for the North Stars, who take on unbeaten Streamwood (7-0) Thursday night.
“They don't feel great about it and I don't feel great about it but we'll move forward,” said Brennan. “I've got a lot of confidence in the team. We'll bounce straight back from this.”