St. Charles N. overcomes Smith's 37
St. Charles North's girls basketball team knew coming into Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference crossover game with South Elgin that Storm junior Becca Smith always has the potential to score a lot of points.
But the North Stars didn't really care. They were more worried about righting their own ship.
And that they did, overcoming Smith's career-high 37 points to down the Storm 64-52 and close a tough week on a positive note.
“Our focus wasn't really about their team, it was about getting our team together,” said SCN coach Colleen Brennan, whose team had scored just 61 points in its previous two games this week combined. “We talked about us and how we needed to make better decisions on the court. Yes, (Smith) is the focal point of their team but we needed to get back together and move forward.”
The North Stars (5-4) did that with balance. Sophomore Alex Silverman, inserted into the starting lineup, and senior Tess Fischer led the way with 14 points each while the Russell sisters, Taylor and Sydney, added 11 each.
“We came out with a lot more energy and our team chemistry was so much better today,” said Sydney Russell. “We used everybody on the floor tonight.”
St. Charles North jumped ahead 17-13 in he first quarter, a period in which Smith scored 11 points. But in the second quarter she was 0-for-5 and the North Stars went on a 7-0 run to end the half with a 32-23 lead. South Elgin (2-6) never got closer than 7 the rest of the way as North's defense limited Smith to just 5 free throws in the third quarter, which ended with the North Stars comfortably ahead 52-31.
“The key was to just play good defense on her,” said Sydney Russell, who spent most of the day hounding Smith all over the court. “She's a good player so we wanted to make her dish off to her teammates.”
Smith took 23 of South Elgin's 56 shots in the game but despite her struggles in the second and third quarters, she brought the Storm back to within fighting distance in the fourth, scoring all 21 of her team's points in the quarter.
Smith went on a personal 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter that brough the Storm to within 10 at 52-42. But after Brennan quickly called time out, Sydney Russell hit 2 free throws and then banked in a layup to give the North Stars a 56-42 lead with 3:57 to play. Despite Smith scoring 10 more points, South Elgin couldn't get closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“We just need to start practicing harder and putting in some extra time in the gym if we want to win,” said Smith. “We come out and play hard but then we dig ourselves a hole that's impossible to get out of.”
The North Stars, who were 3-for-31 in the first half against Streamwood Thursday and 14 of 52 for the game, hit on 19 of 39 shots Saturday. They also outrebounded the Storm 36-27. Sydney Russell's 7 boards led the way.
“We worked as a cohesive group out there,” said Brennan, whose team had 15 turnovers Saturday after registering 25 on Thursday.
“We had to use each other's strengths. We're a really athletic team and we were going a little too fast and trying to make things happen too quickly. We were much more under control today.”
Other than Smith no South Elgin player had more than 5 points.
“I was really disappointed with our defense more than anything else,” said Storm coach Tim Prendergast. “From the get-go we didn't put a lot of pressure on them and we allowed them to get too many easy shots. It was just a lackluster effort on our part with not near enough intensity.
“We need to get better balance in the offense. I don't know why we have to get behind by a hundred points before we start coming back. Becca got us back in the game but it's hard to get too excited about her great game when we lost like we did. We took a step back today.”
While the Storm has to hit the road this week to play Upstate Eight Valley toughies Waubonsie Valley and East Aurora, St. Charles North now has 9 days off before a pre-Christmas nonconference game with Johnsburg.