Geneva overtakes St. Charles E.
In a game both coaches were only happy with a half of their team’s play, Geneva’s “good half” turned out to be better than St. Charles East’s.
The Vikings stayed unbeaten thanks to a 38-point second half, outscoring the Saints 23-8 in the third quarter to turn a 25-22 halftime deficit into a 60-45 victory Tuesday night in St. Charles.
Geneva (7-0, 2-0) looked like a different team in the third quarter, picking up the pace after getting an ear-full at halftime from coach Sarah Meadows.
“After halftime Meadows gave a really good talk and straight up told us we weren’t playing to our potential,” Geneva junior Sami Pawlak said. “That really picked us up and made us play better. She’s very blunt.”
Sophomore guard Michaela Loebel took the inbounds pass to open the second half and drove all the way through the Saints defense for a lay-in in just 7 seconds, the start of the defensive breakdowns St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra thought changed the game.
“We played a nice slower tempo game in the first half which was our goal to make them play defense and not rush our shots,” Drumtra said. “Second half give Geneva credit, they turned it up a notch and we didn’t respond like I wish we would have. They got way too many easy baskets.”
St. Charles East (4-4, 2-1) took its final lead of the game at 27-26 when Morgan Vyzral (9 points) found Paige Jordan on a backdoor cut. A pair of free throws by Morgan Seberger put the Vikings ahead to stay 28-27 and started a 19-4 run to close the third quarter.
Geneva got much of its offense started by its defense as the Vikings forced 6 turnovers in the quarter, held the Saints to 2-of-14 shooting which often started more fast breaks, and got several blocked shots by Loebel and Ashley Santos.
“I got blocked a few times and that gave them a little momentum shift,” said Jordan who led all scorers with 23 points.
“We knew they were going to turn it up a notch and we should have come out a little more pumped. I think all 60 of their points were layups. That’s one thing we’ll work on.”
After the Vikings took their biggest lead of the game 52-33 on a Seberger 3 early in the fourth quarter, the Saints outscored Geneva 10-2 to pull within 54-45 on a free throws by freshman Kyra Washington (7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals) with 2:30 left. That was as close as they would get as the Vikings once again broke down the Saints defense for baskets in the paint by Santos, Stevie Fanale and Pawlak.
Pawlak led Geneva with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 3 steals. Santos (11), Seberger (10) and Loebel (9) combined for 30 more points to help cover for Rachel Hinchman who left the game in the second half. Meadows wasn’t sure if the injury is to Hinchman’s ankle or foot.
“What we’re really good at is pushing the ball forward,” Loebel said. “We like to surprise teams by inbounding really fast and shocking them with a quick play. We’re not one of those teams that runs an offense a lot.”
Loebel did just as good of job on the other end holding Amanda Hilton to 5 points after the Saints sophomore scored 39 points in two wins last week. Loebel said Hilton is one of her best friends and a teammate in AAU basketball with the Lady Lightning and in club soccer with the Strikers.
“It was so much fun playing against her,” Loebel said.
Jordan put her team on her back in a back-and-forth first half with 10 ties or lead changes. She scored 14 points in the half while being defended much of the time by Santos who had to leave the game with 2:16 left in the second quarter when she drew her third foul with the Vikings trailing 23-17.
“I always enjoy playing Ashley because it’s a challenge,” said Jordan, adding she’s been playing against Santos for at least six years with the Lady Lightning.
Meadows compared Geneva’s sluggish start to a victory over Oswego at their Thanksgiving tournament. She knows No. 3 Geneva needs to fix that with a shootout Saturday night against Springfield Southeast, then plenty of challenges next week at the Benet/Naperville North holiday tournament against the likes of No. 7 Wheaton Warrenville South, No. 10 York, No. 12 Benet and No. 16 Glenbard West.
“I felt they didn’t play with any heart in the first half,” Meadows said. “I kind of put it on them thick at halftime and they responded well in the third quarter. The tempo got a little faster and we play better that way.
“I said you have to show up. We’ve been saying to them they just can’t expect to win a game. They were just slow to come out and they can’t do that. Every team wants to beat them. We keep telling them that but they came out too slow.”