St. Charles East stuns Geneva

Geneva's girls basketball team loses so rarely at home that there's truth to the cliché that it's going to take a career night to beat them.

St. Charles East did just that Saturday in the Mack Olson gym, getting not one but two career games to stun the Vikings 66-54, handing Geneva (16-6, 10-1) its first loss in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division.

Senior point guard Katie Claussner matched her career-high of 30 points set earlier this week while sophomore guard Samantha Munroe broke the game open with four 3-pointers as part of her 16-point night.

“No. 23 (Munroe) had the game of her life,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “I don't think she's played that well all year. Good for her.

“We didn't have it tonight and they did.”

St. Charles East (13-7, 6-2) moved within one game of Geneva in the loss column of the UEC River race, though with the Vikings closing the year against second-division teams Streamwood, Elgin and Larkin they are well on their way to another conference title.

That didn't make Saturday's win any less sweet for the Saints.

“It's huge,” said Claussner, who repeatedly beat defenders off the dribble. “It's a confidence-booster. We lost to (St. Charles) North and that brought us down but beating someone like Geneva, we couldn't have asked for anything better tonight.”

Munroe was in the middle of many of the game's turning points. One came at the end of the first half when she was fouled 80 feet away from the Saints' basket after St. Charles East had just inbounded the ball with .7 seconds left in the half.

Munroe made both ends of the 1-and-1 with no time on the clock, turning a 27-26 halftime deficit into a 28-27 halftime lead.

“I saw him call a foul, I knew it was called before the buzzer,” Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. “I looked right at him and said you called it.”

“That was a huge momentum shift,” Claussner said. “Props to her. She had a fantastic game. I just love that girl.”

That play capped a spirited first half. At one point late in the second quarter Geneva had shot 18 free throws to the Saints' 3, but from that point to the end of the game the Saints had 23 attempts to the Vikings' 3.

After Stephanie Hart's 3 tied the game at 30 early in the third quarter, Munroe drained back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Saints ahead to stay.

Courtney Reynolds made a pair of 3s to bring Geneva within 45-42 after three quarters. Claussner scored the Saints' final 6 points of the quarter all by taking the ball left and scoring inside.

Janie McCloughan's jumper brought Geneva within 45-44 to open the fourth quarter before a 7-0 Saints flurry gave St. Charles East a cushion it maintained the rest of the way.

Munroe started that surge with a deep 3 off Claussner's drive and dish. Munroe then stole the ball at half court and scored on a layup. Freshman Sara Rosenfeldt capped the run with a putback basket for a 52-44 lead with 6:04 left.

A minute later Chloe John came up with a three-point play to help the Saints keep a safe margin.

“My shooting has been on lately,” Munroe said. “We just find the open person and put it in. Katie does a really good job on drawing people in and pushing it out so I had a little more time to release my shot.”

Geneva made just 5 of 14 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, and Grace Loberg, who had 14 points in the first half, didn't score in the second and only got one shot. Drumtra consulted with Claussner and Kyra Washington on what defense they preferred in the second half, and the Saints ended up playing a lot of zone.

McCloughan drove for a basket while being fouled to bring Geneva within 60-54 with 1:37 left. She missed the free throw and Geneva didn't score again while Claussner sank 6 more free throws in the final 1:06.

“We just came together as a team,” Claussner said. “Everyone contributed out there to overcome such a great team like Geneva.”

St. Charles East couldn't miss to start the game. The Saints hit their first seven shots from the field including 4 of 4 on 3-point attempts to open a 19-13 lead on Kelly Rinker's 3.

Geneva stayed close, trailing just 19-16 after one quarter thanks to a 9-2 rebounding edge. The Vikings continued pounding the glass in the second quarter while the Saints' shooting cooled down.

St. Charles East shot just 2 of 11 in the second quarter. That was their only bad one — they were 18 of 29 in the other three quarters — to finish 20 for 40 overall, their 50 percent far better than Geneva's 18 of 57 for 31.5 percent.

The Saints needed that hot shooting to overcome Geneva's 39-20 rebounding advantage. Loberg (9 rebounds), McCloughan (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Abby Novak (7 points, 9 rebounds) were a handful for the Saints, with Washington battling to pull down 14 rebounds — 70 percent of her team's total — including one play where she ended up in the third row of the stands to save a rebound to a teammate.

“That zone was key to keep them off the foul line in the second half,” Drumtra said. “That was huge. We did a better job on Loberg in the second half.”

“They all played well. They weathered a tough environment to play in. I thought they did an nice job playing through everything Geneva threw at us.”