Evanston shuts down St. Charles North
Evanston's girls basketball team completed a rare quartet of victories over Fox Valley area schools with Saturday night's 36-30 nonconference triumph over St. Charles North in St. Charles.
Earlier in the season, the Wildkits (15-3) defeated St. Charles East in the Schaumburg Thanksgiving tournament. Two weeks ago, Evanston handed Geneva and Batavia losses during the Montini Christmas tourney.
This time, the state-ranked Wildkits fought off a late rally to slip past the North Stars (11-4).
Trailing 29-23 early in the fourth quarter, the North Stars began their comeback with back-to-back inside baskets by senior center Claire Jakaitis.
Misfiring on their first nine 3-point attempts, the North Stars finally found the range at a most opportune time as Grace Quinn connected from the far corner to give the home team its first lead since early in the third quarter at 30-29 with 2:20 remaining.
"Now we're thinking we have to get out of our zone (defense)," said Evanston coach Elliot Whitefield.
However, the Wildkits answered on their next possession as junior guard Allysah Boothe (9 points) canned a 3-pointer of her own from the wing to put the visitors back on top, 32-30, with 1:55 left.
"That was a huge three," said Whitefield. "They had the momentum. If we don't jump back and hit that 3, we have to kind of force the issue as opposed to them fouling us down the stretch."
"We've got to know that she's there," North Stars coach Sean Masoncup said of Boothe. "She hit a big shot."
Savannah Norfleet (10 points), who sat out the first quarter, hit 4 free throws in the final 31 seconds to seal the victory for the Wildkits, who were without junior post player Leighah-Amori Wool (ankle injury).
"Leighah rolled her ankle in the middle of the third quarter (Friday) night (against Glenbrook South)," said Whitefield.
Jakaitis scored a game-high 14 points with 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots for the North Stars, who struggled at times offensively.
"That's probably a top-3 defensive team in the state," Masoncup said of Evanston. "They're going to wreak havoc on you and they did but we showed that we can play with anybody. We've just got to get better offensively, which we will."
Morgan Rosencrants added 7 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists for the North Stars, who led 15-12 at halftime.
"They're a ranked team," said Jakaitis. "They really exploited some things that we need to work on for the future. It was a tough loss."
"We have to make sure that we do what we want to do and not allow teams to dictate," said Masoncup, whose team faces Geneva Tuesday night.
"We weren't looking over the top and we didn't pass-fake like we usually do. We've been great at shredding zones but today when they went to that 1-3-1 (zone), it rattled us a little."