Smith, St. Charles North handle Marist

Pity all the college coaches who came to the 19th annual McDonald's Shootout in Villa Park on Monday looking for some talented basketball players to recruit.

They saw St. Charles North senior Kelsey Smith put on a show - with a few assists from her teammates - in the North Stars' 48-34 victory against Marist.

Sorry, coaches, Smith already has signed with Michigan State.

"She deserves to be going to Michigan State," Marist coach Mary Pat Connolly said.

You can't blame Connolly for being impressed. The 6-foot-4 Smith didn't miss a shot, either from the field or the free-throw line, finishing with 25 points to go with 4 blocks.

"You can't ask for a much better game for her," North Stars coach Katie Sauber said with a laugh. "But also we had girls knocking it down from the outside. Anna Conrad taking the ball into the lane for us, getting some nice free throws. The girls played a nice game."

Conrad and point guard Kiley Hackbarth combined for 8 assists, many of them to Smith in the low post.

"It was just there," Conrad said, "and Kelsey was working really hard and busting her butt."

The North Stars (14-5) found it easy to get Smith the ball because of the work they did from the perimeter, hitting three 3-pointers and slashing into the lane.

"They're a solid team. They've got an inside-outside game, two strong post players (Smith and Jenna Bell), and obviously we couldn't handle Smith," Connolly said. "... We thought, you know what? Let's pick our poison here. Either we're going to win the game hoping that they didn't shoot the 3 well or the inside game. So it was pick your poison here, and we didn't defend any girl."

The RedHawks (8-7) struggled from the start, falling behind 14-6 after a first quarter in which they made 1 of their 16 shots.

"Then we just spent the whole half trying to catch up, trying to make it a game," Connolly said. "Had we made some shots it might've been a different game at the beginning."

The lead reached double figures in the second quarter when Dana Sibley scored to make it 26-16, and the North Stars led by 12 at halftime.

Marist tried to come back in the third quarter, employing a full-court press and getting three 3-pointers from Haley Stercic to get the margin down to 8.

"We took care of the ball tonight," Sauber said. "Our guards did a good job of stopping Stercic. We knew she was a threat. ...

"She's a nice player. She's definitely someone when you're coming into a game you've got to make sure you're aware of where she is at all times. There were a couple of times there that Kiley needed the help, and we just needed to be able to recognize that."

St. Charles North stopped Stercic, holding her to 9 points for the game, and Marist never got close in the fourth quarter.

"Yeah, it was really nice," Conrad said. "Usually we have a hard time playing hard all four quarters, but I think we kept our composure and we just played strong and just played our game."

And they got good contributions from a variety of places.

"(Alex) Messacar crashed the boards for us," Sauber said. "She pulled down some huge rebounds. Dana Sibley and Sydney Russell were able to come into the game for us and do a nice job. I'm happy and pleased with everyone's performance."