Holt, defense lift Burlington Central
Shelby Holt's hot hand and a little defensive adjustment in the fourth quarter allowed the Burlington Central girls basketball team and Rockets' head coach Mark Smith to keep bragging rights over St. Charles North Monday.
Holt hit for a game-high 23 points, including five 3-pointers, and the Rockets held SCN to 2 points in the fourth quarter to come away with a 48-38 win at the 32nd annual Charger Classic Christmas Tournament at Dundee-Crown.
With the victory, Burlington Central (11-1) advances to Tuesday's 5 p.m. fifth-place game against Stevenson (13-1), which beat Hononegah 47-38 on Monday.
St. Charles North (7-5) will play Hononegah at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Monday's game was tied 36-36 going into the fourth quarter but Smith, who teaches and formerly coached at St. Charles North, had noticed Rockets' senior Alison Colby and SCN junior Claire Jakaitis were having a battle in the paint, essentially canceling each other out.
"Alison and Claire were locked into each other and it was like a four-on-four game," Smith said. "We made a little adjustment, the girls adjusted really well, Alison did a nice job and we were able to hold them to two points.
"On the bench (between the third and fourth quarters) the girls resolved they had to win the (fourth) quarter and the game would be ours."
North Stars' coach Sean Masoncup knew exactly where things went wrong for his team, which committed 8 turnovers in the fourth quarter while only getting off 5 shots.
"We didn't get the ball inside enough," he said. "I've known Mark for 15 years and Mark Smith's teams are very physical and very good on the defensive end of the floor. We didn't react well today and we let one slip away."
The Rockets led 40-38 after Jakaitis scored SCN's only basket of the fourth quarter with 4:19 left in the game. Holt hit 2 free throws at the 3:29 mark, Colby made a layup off an assist from Sam Pryor, Pryor hit 2 free throws and Becca Gerke's layup with 3 seconds to go put the cap on BC's 8-0 game-ending run.
Holt made 7 of 15 shots from the field including 5 of 10 from 3-point range on a day when Pryor's shot was off (2-for-14).
"Someone else had to step up," said Holt, who added 5 rebounds and 3 steals. "We're a deep team so we're really good at that. Coach teaches at North and we couldn't let him go back to school losing this game."
"Shelby is a completely different player this year," Smith said of the junior. "Her maturity and her attitude ... not that there was anything wrong with it before but she's even more determined than normal and she's more serious than she's ever been. She's playing with a ton of confidence and she knocked down some big shots for us today."
Colby had another monster game on the boards for the Rockets, grabbing 14 to lead BC to a 36-29 rebounding advantage. The Rockets also turned the ball over only eight times, including none in the fourth quarter.
Jakaitis and senior Nichole Davidson had 14 points each for the North Stars, who played without senior guard Ashling Davern who had to sit out the game after hitting her head on the floor in Saturday's loss to Buffalo Grove. SCN was 12 of 30 shooting and finished with 23 turnovers.