Saints record 'benchmark' win vs. Geneva
For the past two years, the Geneva girls basketball team has beaten St. Charles East in the battle between the two nonconference teams in the Tri-Cities Area.
This year, however, it was a different story, as the Saints had three different players step up in the first three quarters which helped them beat Geneva, 44-42, in St. Charles Saturday.
"To beat a team like Geneva is a great benchmark for us," St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said. "I've been telling the girls we want to beat teams with winning records, and Geneva is a great program. We've had battles with them the past three years. Every game with them is a battle, so to come out ahead this time is a very good feeling."
Tasha Lalos led St. Charles East in the first quarter, when she scored 9 of her game-high 16 points. Jaime Rust scored all 9 of her points in the second, when the Saints took their first double-digit lead of the game for a 29-19 lead at the break.
Lexi Baltes tallied 7 of her 14 points in the third, when the Saints led by as much as 11 points.
The Saints (12-7) didn't exactly have a hero in the fourth quarter, as they were outscored 11-3 by Geneva, which made a solid comeback after trailing the entire game.
At the start of the fourth, the Vikings (14-5) trailed 41-31. They opened the quarter on a steal and bucket from Emily Hinchman and basket from Nicole Gregory.
Kara Schnier's free throws with 4:45 left in the game pushed the Saints back up 43-35, but the Vikings proceeded to go on an 8-0 run after that, which reduced the Saints' lead to 43-42 with 1:08 remaining.
After that, Geneva was forced to foul Baltes, who sank a free throw with 3.9 left in the game. The Vikings were able to get a last-second 3-point shot off at the buzzer, but it failed to go in.
"It's not the last possession -- it's the whole game," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "We dug ourselves in too big of a hole…defensively, we had some breakdowns and gave up way too many 3-pointers (the Saints finished with 7 total). That's tough."
"They got closer (to us) than we wanted, but we held on and pulled it out," Baltes said. "We are happy with this."
Taylor Whitley led the Vikings with 13 points. Hinchman finished with 11 points and 4 steals while Lauren Wicinski led all players in rebounds with 11 to match her 11-point effort off the bench.