North Stars cruise against DeKalb
The bar has been raised pretty high at St. Charles North.
That's what a supersectional run a year ago, with most of the pieces back this winter, will do. A 56-29 Tuesday night over DeKalb in the Class 4A South Elgin regional semifinals felt good, but there's still a lot of work to do.
"We've kind of had a goal since last year," 6-foot-4 senior Kelsey Smith said. "We got really far and that felt good so especially for us seniors we want to go out with a bang and make it downstate."
Smith and Anna Conrad spoke to the team before the game, making sure they are ready for the challenges to come.
"We talked to the team about coming out strong and leaving it all on the court," Conrad said. "Because for this is all or nothing. We're putting everything we have into this."
St. Charles North (20-8) wasted little time putting DeKalb (13-16) away. The Barbs took their only lead of the game 5-3.
Tied at 7, Conrad's basket put the North Stars ahead to stay, the start of a 21-4 burst to end the first half with a 28-11 halftime lead.
"We were able to build momentum early," St. Charles North coach Katie Sauber said. "Definitely a good stepping stone."
The North Stars kept up the pressure in the second half. Sydney Russell provided one of the highlights, diving to keep the ball from going out of bounds and saving it to Conrad, who took it the other way for a layup.
Russell, a sophomore who nailed 10 shots to win the 3-point showdown before the game, stayed hot with 9 points off the bench.
"She did a fantastic job off the bench, hit some key 3s, made some nice passes, played great 'D,'" Sauber said. "She has grown tremendously over this season. She has gained confidence in herself. Defensively you can match her up with some of the best players. She's developing into quite a good basketball player."
Smith scored 10 of her 11 points in the first half to lead the North Stars. Russell and Conrad scored 9, Alex Messacar 8 and Kiley Hackbarth 6. Hackbarth and Messacar both had 3 steals.
"They are so big and so athletic," DeKalb coach Debbie Whitman said. "At times we got some good shots off but they really took us out of what we want to do."
The North Stars will play rival St. Charles East Thursday.