St. Charles North tops Elgin to snap streak

The St. Charles North girls basketball team had one of its best first quarters, had lots of fun and, most importantly, broke a five-game losing streak Thursday night.

The North Stars scored 22 points in the first quarter and cruised to a 57-19 Upstate Eight River victory over host Elgin.

"I think we really needed this," said North sophomore center Liz McNally, who had a game-high 12 points and 8 rebounds. "We've had a rough couple of weeks and we've been working really hard. This will definitely boost our confidence going into the postseason."

Natalie Winkates scored 8 points and Alyssa Garcia, Megan Booe and Jerica Balousek each had 4 in the first quarter. North (8-20, 7-5) scored the final 12 points of the first quarter to lead 22-6. The North Stars shot 9-for-15 in the quarter and forced 8 Elgin turnovers.

"Based on a variety of things we like to press, but we've had a hard time finishing on it," North coach Colleen Brennan said. "Our pressure was good. We got some quick steals."

The North Stars led 38-15 at halftime. They only scored 8 points, all from McNally, in the third quarter, but still increased the lead to 46-19, holding the Maroons (1-23, 1-10) to just 4 points.

Elgin did not score in the final quarter, going 0-for-8 from the floor. The Maroons shot just 17.5 percent (7 of 40) and turned the ball over 28 times.

"I think they're still a little down from the loss to Larkin (on Tuesday). It sapped a lot of their energy," Elgin coach Dr. Nick Bumbales said. "We had difficulty with the press and the was the difference. We struggled with turnovers."

Briana Hamilton led Elgin with 7 points and 5 rebounds. Ashley Nachampassak added 5 points.

Winkates finished with 8 points for the North Stars. Balousek added 7 points and Ava Tarka had 5.