St. Charles North cruises past Elgin

There was no need to worry about any letdown from the St. Charles North girls basketball team after an emotional victory.

The North Stars, two days removed from beating crosstown rival St. Charles East, had little trouble running their win streak to three Monday night with a 57-28 Upstate Eight River victory over winless Elgin at Chesbrough Field House.

"We talked about doing the little things and just coming out and playing," North coach Colleen Brennan said. "You have to show up to every single game ready to play."

Four different players scored as the North Stars (11-10, 6-2) scored the first 9 points of the game. The Maroons (0-21, 0-7) turned the ball over 5 times in their first 6 possessions.

"It's been an issue all year," Elgin coach Dr. Nick Bumbales said of the turnovers. "Anybody that has pressed us, we've had issues with that. We knew that would be a problem."

The North Stars' Tess Fischer scored 7 points in the first quarter as North took an 18-7 into the second quarter. The bench got most of the time in the second quarter and extended the lead to 33-13 at halftime.

Three North starters played the first 3 ½ minutes of the third and the other two played a couple more minutes before giving way to the bench for the rest of the game. Ten different players scored for the North Stars.

"We have a talented full group," Brennan said. "In practice it's a balanced group. They really challenge each other and compete."

Fischer and Leah Horton, who came off the bench, each scored 11 points to lead the North Stars. Sydney Russell added 10 points, including hitting three 3-pointers. Amanda Ciran finished with 6 points off the bench, which scored 26 points.

Briana Hamilton led the Maroons with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Anna Edwards contributed 6 points and 4 rebounds.

"The kids are still playing hard," Bumbales said. "We're 0-21, but they came out and gave a pretty good effort I thought. I didn't see anyone out there dogging it."