N. Stars drop heartbreaker
A chance to tie. Two chances to win. But the St. Charles North girls basketball team couldn't find any nylon.
As a result, the North Stars fell to Evanston, 41-40, in the consolation championship game of the 25th annual Dundee-Crown Charger Classic.
"I thought both (shots to win) were in," North junior guard Anna Conrad said. "They are a great team. They gave us good fight. It was great competition."
St. Charles North (10-4) trailed 41-39 when junior center Kelsey Smith was fouled. Smith hit the first free throw and Evanston called a 30-second timeout. Smith missed the second free throw.
The rebound bounced out to Kiley Hackbarth behind the 3-point line. She fired up a shot, which hit the front of the rim and Caitlin Winkelman grabbed another offensive rebound. Her 6-footer bounced on the rim twice before falling off as the buzzer sounded.
"I almost had a heart attack," Evanston coach Steve Wool said. "We caught a lucky break, but we put ourselves in the position to catch that break."
The Wildkits (12-6) took an 11-3 lead 3 minutes into the game and led 16-10 after the first quarter thanks in large part to the hot shooting of senior Darcel Retreage, who scored 9 of her game-high 14 points in the quarter. A defensive switch, putting Hackbarth on Retreage, in the second quarter helped slow down Evanston.
Trailing 19-10 the North Stars went on an 8-0 run, holding the Wildkits scoreless for more than five minutes. Three-pointers by Hackbarth and Nika Sircher cut the deficit to 19-18. A buzzer-beating basket by St. Charles North's Jenna Bell made it a 2-point game, 24-22 Evanston, at halftime.
The North Stars got the 6-foot-4 Smith, who only scored 3 points in the first half, involved early in the second half. Her basket with 3:15 left in the third quarter gave North a 30-27 lead, its largest lead since 3-0. Collier Clegg hit a 3-pointer with a minute left in the quarter to give the Wildkits a 34-32 lead going into the fourth.
A Hackbarth 3-pointer with 2:30 left tied the game at 37-37. Retreage had a steal and layup to give the Wildkits the lead again. Winkelman tied the game at 39-39 with 1:55 left.
Kim Davis's off-balance basket in the lane with 1:30 remaining gave Evanston a 41-39 lead. The Wildkits twice missed the front end of a 1-and-1 in the final 25 seconds giving the North Stars their chances to tie and win.
"First quarter we weren't patient with the ball. We had to start digging ourselves out of a hole," St. Charles North coach Katie Sauber said. "We started to take control of the pace and slowed it down."
Smith led St. Charles North with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Conrad added 9 points.
The North Stars lost two games at the tournament by a total of 3 points, a nice showing in their first appearance in arguably the top girls tournament in the state.
"Nice tournament, wish we could have finished better," Sauber said.