St. Charles North 45, St. Charles East 22

No doubt about it, St. Charles North's girls basketball team definitely came ready to play Thursday.

Performing like a team on a mission, the top-seeded North Stars (21-5) raced to a 17-3 first-quarter lead and never looked back, capturing their first Class 4A regional championship with an impressive 45-22 victory over cross-town rival St. Charles East at Larkin in Elgin.

The North Stars will take on Jacobs Tuesday night in the Rockton Hononegah sectional semifinals.

By halftime, Thursday's game was anything but a cross-town classic, as the North Stars held a commanding 29-4 advantage.

"There is no doubt to the amount of skill we have," said North Stars coach Katie Sauber. "And there was no doubt that we were ready and we were focused."

While the North Stars received balanced first-half scoring from center Kelsey Smith and guards Anna Conrad, Kiley Hackbarth and Nika Sircher, the Saints shot a frigid 1-for-17 from the field.

"This was absolutely the best game we've had defensively -- hands down," said Sauber. "We were aggressive, we were active the entire time, we had great help defense -- the kids got it done."

The North Stars' suffocating man-to-man defense pushed St. Charles East's offense away from the basket, evidenced by the Saints' ten 3-point attempts in the first half.

"Give a ton of credit to the guards because we knew they were a big-shooting team," said the 6-foot-4 Smith, who tallied 10 of her game-high 13 points in the opening quarter. "Our guards played amazing defense. They've been playing so well lately -- a lot of credit goes to them."

"I think our defense threw them off," added Hackbarth, who joined Conrad with 8 points apiece. "That's why they were having a difficult time getting the ball and getting it out because we were all over the place on defense tonight."

Jaime Rust (10 points), one of three St. Charles East sophomore starters, accounted for all of the Saints' first-half offense.

"It was very frustrating offensively," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said of her team's dismal 16 percent field-goal shooting (6 of 38). "We had trouble getting good looks at the basket."

How bad did things get for the Saints?

They didn't reach double figures until the final minute of the third quarter, when they already were down by 23 points.

While admitting that it was a tough offensive night for her team, Drumtra gave credit where credit was due.

"They make you rush your shots a little bit," Drumtra said of the North Stars. "Everybody focuses on Kelsey Smith as their primary weapon but that's not all they have. The thing I'm most impressed with is their defense. They play in-your-face defense, and it's all five players, not just two or three."

St. Charles East finished at 15-14.

"You want to get to a game like this -- that's your dream," said Drumtra. "Considering we started out 1-4 (and) to finish 15-14, I'm very pleased with the season."