Gieseke's effort lifts Lake Park

Lake Park's Chelsea Gieseke said she tried to play with confidence in Tuesday's 44-34 victory at St. Francis.

The way the 6-foot senior forward played should give her plenty of confidence.

"We didn't really know much about this team, so we were like, just go hard, play how you would normally," Gieseke said. "I came out with the mentality of give it everything."

Gieseke's everything resulted in a game-high 15 points and 13 rebounds in the Lancers' nonconference victory in Wheaton.

"She had a phenomenal game," Lancers coach Chris Fruehling said. "She is a tremendously hard worker, and all of her hard work pays off in games in terms of when it comes down to a crucial situation or the flow of a game. She's very reliable, very consistent. I'm really happy to see her shine tonight."

"She had a fantastic night," St. Francis coach Jeff Gerdeman said. "I don't know what she finished up with, but she really killed us today."

Many of her rebounds led to easy baskets for Gieseke.

"I tend to miss a lot of easys," she said. "Well, I did today too, but I made a little more than I usually do."

Lake Park eased out to an 8-point lead, but St. Francis cut it to 3 in the third quarter. Gieseke responded with a basket to make it 31-26 with two minutes left in the period, and the Lancers pulled away again.

"That's the story of our season," Gerdeman said. "We fall behind and fight and fight and scratch and claw to catch up and just fall a bit short."

The lead finally hit double digits with 2:39 left in the fourth on an Alexis Hahn basket.

"They're a pretty solid team," Gerdeman said of the Lancers. "They took care of the basketball. We didn't force them into a whole lot of turnovers. They shot very well from the free-throw line, we didn't shoot very well from the free-throw line, and I think they killed us on the boards. So if you're giving them second-chance offensive rebounds and they're making their free throws, it's a recipe for disaster."

The Lancers finished 17 of 21 at the line, bettering the Spartans' 8-of-19 effort.

Tori Clark added 10 points for the Lancers (7-8).

Megan Bruggeman led St. Francis (7-10) with 11 points and added 5 assists.

"She really has been solid lately," Gerdeman said of Bruggeman. "She had a good tournament over at Lisle and she has been steady. She really doesn't get a lot of publicity, she doesn't pile up great stats, but she's steady. ... She's just kind of our floor leader for us."