Reserves give North Stars a spark
With her team leading 4-2 midway through the opening quarter, St. Charles North girls basketball coach Colleen Brennan felt something was missing.
Enter Leah Horton and Megan Booe.
The two reserves immediately made their presence felt, as Booe drained a 3-pointer and split a pair of free throws, while Horton added an offensive-rebound putback basket to help extend the North Stars’ first-quarter lead to 10-4.
Horton wound up as the game’s leading scorer with 11 points and 4 rebounds, while Booe had 4 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a pair of steals during the North Stars’ 41-38 non-conference victory over Lyons Township (7-12) Friday night in St. Charles.
“Megan Booe played huge tonight and Leah Horton played huge tonight,” said Brennan. “And we needed it. Yah, you need the points but we needed the energy, we needed the spark. We needed someone to make something happen and for the people to follow.
“When we aren’t where we exactly need to be, we’re going to try new and different combinations and find some people who are going to do it.”
After forcing 14 Lions’ turnovers, the North Stars (9-10) led 19-13 at halftime. Eleven of their first 15 points were scored by reserves Booe, Horton and Amanda Ciran.
“We’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of depth,” said Brennan.
Lyons regrouped and began the third quarter with 8 unanswered points to tie the game at 21-all.
“It was clear that the girls made some improvements in the second half,” said Lyons coach Katie
Meyers.
Sydney Russell (9 points, 4 assists) connected for one of her two 3-pointers to put the North Stars back on top, 24-21, and the 6-foot-tall Horton added 5 consecutive points in the third quarter, including a rare 3-pointer.
“Being a post, we don’t really get many opportunities but when we do get an opportunity, the coaches are always telling us to shoot it,” said Horton. “If you make one, they’re going to come out and guard us and it opens things up.”
Through 3 quarters, the Lions had misfired on their two 3-point attempts but things certainly changed in the final period.
In fact, Lyons’ only three baskets down the stretch came from beyond the arc, including Lindsay
Esposito’s NBA-range 3-point bomb from the top of the key that gave the Lions their first lead of the game at 35-32 with 4:28 remaining.
But the North Stars responded with a 7-0 surge over the next three minutes to take the lead for good. First, Kate Booe’s layup off a feed from her younger sister Megan knotted the score at 35-35.
On their next possession, Sydney Russell delivered a perfect backdoor pass to Tess Fischer, whose three-point play with 1:35 left gave the North Stars a 38-35 advantage.
After Russell’s pair of free throws upped the lead to 41-38 with 13 seconds left, the Lions’ hopes of sending the game into overtime were dashed when Esposito’s desperation 3-point attempt caromed off the back rim at the buzzer.
The North Stars, who visit St. Charles East Saturday afternoon, gained a 16-7 scoring edge from their bench, anchored by Horton.
“I got down on my confidence pretty bad at the beginning of the year,” Horton admitted. “It was showing when I was playing.
“It’s really good to get that confidence back. I’m so much more relaxed out there. The game is so much more fun.”