St. Charles East reserves handle Larkin

When opportunity knocks, run with it.

By the time St. Charles East's girls basketball team built a 30-3 lead over Larkin through the first 11 minutes of Thursday night's Upstate Eight Conference River Division game, all 13 Saints players had logged court time.

While the starting five certainly did its part in providing the early cushion, it was a night reserved for the reserves.

Led by sophomore guard/forward Laney Deckrow's 10 points and 7 rebounds, the Saints (7-14, 3-6) received 33 points from their bench players during a convincing 63-31 victory over the Royals (3-18, 2-6) in St. Charles.

"This is one of my better nights," said Deckrow, who made all 4 of her field-goal attempts and was 2-for-2 at the free-throw line.

Deckrow made her presence felt upon entering the game midway through the opening quarter, as she connected on a 15-foot jumper and then added a driving layup off a steal to give the Saints a 21-2 advantage.

"Coming on off the bench, I just try to pass the ball to my teammates, work as a team and communicate," said Deckrow.

The Saints took charge early, as freshman guard Amanda Hilton (10 points) drained a pair of 3-pointers in the first 2-plus minutes. Senior forward Dani Asquini (8 points, 5 rebounds) added 6 points during her team's 13-0 start.

Annie Martines (7 points) capped the opening quarter with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 24-3.

"I give them credit," said Larkin coach Alphonso Lott. "They were ready to play. We battled with them for a while the first time we played them, but today they made it a point to come out and play right away."

Shooting 54 percent from the field (15-of-28), the Saints led 40-12 at halftime before extending the margin to 35 at 53-18 heading into the fourth quarter.

RaeAnne Payleitner (6 points), Shannon Pedersen (4), Kelly Cada (4 points, 2 blocked shots), Carly Pottle (2 points, 2 steals), Lauren Rohrmeier (3 steals), and Cayleigh Ballard also contributed to the Saints' bench superiority.

"It's always nice when everyone gets an opportunity and contributes," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra, whose team is 4-3 in its last 7 games after a 3-11 start.

"I kind of predicted that," added Drumtra. "I knew that we would get better once we were healthy. We're probably as healthy as we've been since the beginning of the season."

The biggest roar of the night came during halftime when Special Olympics basketball player Sam Raymond connected on a shot worth $250 from a local car dealership.

Maggie Hoffman led the Royals with 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

"We've been working out really hard this week and I don't think the girls' legs have fully recovered yet," said Lott.