Elk Grove tops St. Charles East for 3rd place at Wheaton North
Elk Grove post players Ashley Capotosto and Courtney Lindfors were double trouble for St. Charles East's girls basketball team Wednesday night.
The two Division I recruits - Capotosto (St. Bonaventure) and Lindfors (UW-Milwaukee) - each recorded double-doubles to power the Grenadiers (12-3) to a 60-41 victory over the Saints (9-6) in the third-place game of the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic held at Wheaton North.
Capotosto, a 6-foot senior forward, poured in a game-high 29 points with 11 rebounds and 2 steals while 6-foot-4 senior center Lindfors added 21 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocked shots and 4 steals for the Grens.
"It was nice to come out and have me and Court (Lindfors) play for most of the game because I know we've been in foul trouble during the first part of the season," said Capotosto, whose 18 second-half points sparked the Grens' 35-20 surge over the final 2 quarters.
"We were kind of mad because we wanted to be in the championship game. We took the attitude that if we were going to play for third place we were going to get it."
St. Charles East, which entered the tournament unseeded before knocking off top-seeded Hinsdale Central and No. 8 Lyons Township, kept things tight over the first 16 minutes.
Senior guard Lexi Baltes, who finished with a team-leading 20 points and 4 assists, hit 4 of her first 5 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help the Saints remain close early. St. Charles East trailed 25-21 at halftime.
The Saints began the second half on a positive note as Jaime Rust's 3-pointer from the corner narrowed the deficit to 25-24.
From there, however, Elk Grove took command thanks to a 17-2 run with 14 of those points coming from Capotosto and Lindfors.
"It's the best that they've played together all season," said Grenadiers coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "They were real efficient down low.
"They stayed out of foul trouble. That helps because everything we run this year involves the two of them. When one of them is out of the game, our backup posts can play good defense and do a lot of fundamental things but you lose something without those two scorers in there at the same time.
"There haven't been a lot of minutes where we've had them both out there together for that long of a stretch. It was nice to see that."
Something that Saints coach Lori Drumtra would rather not have witnessed.
"We didn't have an answer for their two big girls tonight," admitted Drumtra. "They dominated us on the inside - there's no other way to say it."
Elk Grove earned a 36-20 rebounding edge.
"More than anything, their boards killed us," said Drumtra. "That's what gets me the most because that is something you can control. You can control blocking out, moving your feet and getting a body on them. "We've been doing a good job of that up until tonight. That's what is so frustrating."
Olivia Roback added 7 points and 6 assists for the Grens, who rebounded from Tuesday night's 53-41 semifinal loss to Hersey.
"I've been here 10 years as a head coach and assistant (coach) and this is our highest finish at this tournament," said Kirkorsky.