Rosary 84, Aurora Central Catholic 24

The starters on Rosary's basketball team were long confined to the bench when the second and third units continued the Royals' scoring spree.

Making the most of their playing time Friday night at Aurora Central Catholic in Suburban Catholic Conference action, the Royals' reserves hardly missed a beat.

Or that many shots, either.

With four more players scoring than Aurora Central had in uniform, Rosary coasted to its fifth straight win with a 84-24 victory.

When junior guard Audrey Van Acker nailed back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter, the Royals' ascension in the neighborhood rivalry was no

longer in doubt.

"I was excited to get some playing time and made the most of the experience," said Van Acker, a St. Charles resident who was one of five players in double figures for Rosary (13-4, 5-1) with 10 points. "The fact that everyone got playing time was good."

Coming off a two-week break since winning the Oswego Holiday Classic, the contributions from throughout the lineup were welcomed by coach Rosary Dave Beebe.

"(Van Acker) works her butt off (in practice)," Beebe said. "She is going to be a good ballplayer for us. It's just a matter of the players we have in front of her."

The Royals' bench had almost half the team output, scoring 39 points in the contest from seven different players.

Sixth-man Katie Eckberg also hit double digits with 10 points, and Stephanie Haugen narrowly missed the feat, finishing with 8 points.

The Royals' accuracy from beyond the arc was contagious in the final quarter as Nicole Ristick found nothing but nylon from the far-right baseline moments after the consecutive Van Acker 3-pointers.

"We all put our time in during practice," said reserve

forward Sarah Butz, who hails from Geneva. "I haven't played in a whole lot of games, so it was nice."

Before giving way to the reserves, the Royals' Victoria Alvarez and Jordan Rettig were a potent one-two punch.

Alvarez had 11 of her 14 points in the opening half, which ended with Rosary taking a trebled lead at 42-14, and the senior guard snared 5 steals and an equal number of assists during the Royals' first-half blitz.

Rettig had 9 of her game-high 15 points in the second quarter, and starting guard Faith Jones scored 8 of her 10 points in the third to seal the Chargers' fate.

"We're going to continue to compete," Aurora Central coach Fay Griffin said. "Defensive intensity -- that's

what we have to work on all four quarters."

Brooke Frantzen and Nydia Griffin scored 8 points apiece to pace ACC (1-13, 0-6).