St. Charles North's defense blankets Bartlett

Not that St. Charles North ever wants to see Kelsey Smith headed to the bench in foul trouble, but at least the North Stars can breathe a little easier knowing help is on the way.

Junior Dana Sibley filled the reserve sparkplug role to perfection Wednesday, entering the game with 3:15 left in the first quarter after Smith picked up her second foul. By the time Sibley grabbed the last of Bartlett's 47 missed shots at the final buzzer, she had completed an 8-point, 12-rebound night off the bench in the North Stars' 49-31 victory.

"Obviously Kelsey is a great player and I have some big shoes to fill when I go out there but I took the opportunity to show what I had and I really hit the boards," Sibley said. "That's what I tried to focus on, especially at the defensive end."

St. Charles North (19-8, 9-1) wrapped up sole possession of second place in the Upstate Eight in its final home game. Despite sitting out the final 11:15 of the first half, Smith led both team with 13 points.

What goes around came around for Bartlett. A night after falling behind South Elgin by 19 points and winning by 23, Bartlett (15-10, 6-3) jumped out to the early lead only to fall apart the next two quarters.

The Hawks opened with the game's first 7 points, and they still led 13-12 until Kiley Hackbarth's 3-pointer gave the North Stars a 15-13 lead after one quarter.

The North Stars completely shut down Bartlett over the next two quarters, holding them to 2-of-25 shooting from the field to outscore the Hawks 27-6 and take a 42-19 lead into the fourth quarter.

"It was definitely a great defensive effort tonight," Sibley said. "We were rotating very well. It was just great team defense. We've been working for that all year and it was great to show it in our last home game."

St. Charles North led 48-21 in the fourth quarter until Bartlett finished the game on a 10-1 burst to narrow the final margin. Jacki Gulczynski grabbed 12 rebounds but didn't score until late in the fourth quarter, finishing with 6 points. Becca Cronin and Ashley Santos led the Hawks with 7 points.

"We had some good shots that didn't fall," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna, who didn't use the hard-fought game the night before against South Elgin as an excuse.

"It was a late night and it was emotional and a good game for us, but you've got to come back and play the next day. It should be a stepping stone. We've been playing really good and we really laid an egg tonight."

Jenna Bell teamed with Sibley to help the North Stars stay strong inside without Smith early. Bell (8 rebounds, 4 steals) and Anna Conrad both scored 9 points.

"We didn't lose our composure seven points behind and we played hard and were able to come back," Sauber said. "It was a great team effort."

The North Stars take the No. 1 seed into the Class 4A South Elgin regional Tuesday, where they await the winner of Monday's game between Larkin and DeKalb.

"We can go far," Sauber said. "We have a lot of talent. We put that talent together there's not many teams I feel with we can't compete with."