St. Charles North too strong for Larkin
Boo-yah is a catch phrase often used by ESPN personality Stuart Scott.
Booe is the last name of St. Charles North girls basketball players Kate and Megan, who combined for 12 points, 15 rebounds, 8 steals, 5 assists and a blocked shot while helping lead the North Stars (8-8, 4-1) to a 50-27 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Larkin (2-13, 1-4) Thursday night in St. Charles.
Kate Booe (7 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals), a 5-8 senior forward, had 5 points and 5 rebounds during the North Stars' 11-3 first-quarter run.
“She's the tallest 5-8 you're ever going to see,” said North Stars coach Colleen Brennan. “There's a little more attention being given to Kate because she's scoring a little bit more. We're utilizing our posts a little bit more effectively.
“But it's also the little things that she does for us. The little things she does are huge. When we run a matchup zone, you've got to have her in there. She guides people through.”
Despite their 8-point, first-quarter lead, the North Stars didn't fully take command of the contest until the latter stages of the second period.
After Allison Driskill (10 points, 6 rebounds) split a pair of free throws to help the Royals cut the deficit to 15-10 with 3:26 left before halftime, Brennan quickly called a timeout.
“Coach Brennan called a timeout and said, ‘Now you have to go — let's have a spark,'” said Kate Booe. “Up to that point, we weren't really playing 100 percent and we weren't pushing the ball how we want to. We came out (of the timeout) with a lot of energy.”
St. Charles North closed out the half on a 12-0 run and extended its lead to 27-10 at the intermission.
Six different players scored baskets during the late second-quarter surge — a soon-to-be common sight for the North Stars, who put the game away by outscoring Larkin 17-8 in the third quarter.
“It was great to see all of the combinations in there,” said Brennan. “We had a few kids do a lot of great things tonight. It was a great team effort — that's what we're looking for.”
Senior Leah Horton had a team-high 10 points and helped fuel the North Stars' 26-4 bench scoring advantage that included contributions from Megan Booe (5 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and Alyssa Garcia (6 points).
Starters Taylor Russell (8 points), Tess Fischer (7 points) and Sydney Russell (7 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals) also chipped in for the North Stars, who are now 2-0 in 2011.
“Our focus right now is taking responsibility for our team's performance in a positive way,” said Brennan. “Here we are. It's 2011 and we're ready to play.”
Maggie Hoffman added 5 points for the Royals, who suffered their seventh straight loss.
“We're trying to work in a rotation with the bench,” said Larkin coach Alphonso Lott. “But when we do that, we seem to lose continuity. We seem to lose focus and teams make a run on us.”