Schaumburg downs St. Charles East at Wheaton North
Schaumburg's girls basketball team heads to the bright lights of Wednesday's tournament semifinals at Wheaton North.
Junior guard Mallory Gerber scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help lead the fifth-seeded Saxons (8-5) to a 43-37 quarterfinal victory over St. Charles East (5-8) Tuesday night in the 32nd annual Bill Neibch Falcon Holiday Classic.
With the win, the Saxons advanced to Wednesday's second semifinal matchup (7:30 p.m.) against top-seeded Glenbrook South.
"It'll be a great experience for the girls," said Schaumburg coach Curtis Goodwin. "We've got to bring the same energy we brought today and obviously the close the game better but it'll be fun for them."
Schaumburg had no problem getting started, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first 5 minutes against the Saints.
Gerber connected on her first 2 shots, including a 3-pointer from the wing, while senior Alexis Ross came off the bench to add a pair of first-quarter baskets.
"It's very important to us," Gerber said of her team's fast start. "When we get in a slump, sometimes it's hard to get back out. We wanted to be the team that gets the other team in a slump so we can have confidence going into the rest of the game."
Schaumburg stretched its lead to 16-2 on another basket by Gerber before the Saints put together a 6-0 run that included 4 points from sophomore forward Sara Rosenfeldt (17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals).
However, the Saxons closed out the second quarter with 6 unanswered points while extending their halftime lead to 22-8.
"Eight points in the first half - that pretty much tells the game there," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra, whose team shot just 12 percent (3-for-25) from the field in the first 16 minutes. "That was bad and I'm not sure why.
"Schaumburg looked like they wanted it more and we looked like we had weights in our shoes."
"They missed some shots in the first half and we made some shots," said Goodwin. "It's a make or miss game."
The Saxons, who defeated St. Charles East 51-42 during Thanksgiving break, led 30-13 midway through the third quarter before the Saints went on a 13-4 surge to pull within 8 at 34-26 heading into the final period.
Kelly Rinker (6 points) began the run with a 3-pointer while Sam Munroe scored all of her 6 points in the third quarter.
Back-to-back baskets from junior Maya Bowens (9 points, 9 rebounds) pushed the Saxons' lead back to 14 at 40-26 with 5:10 remaining.
St. Charles East scored 7 points over the final 1:20 to make things a little tighter at the finish.
Laura O'Connell added 9 points for the Saxons while Hannah Vitkus had 6 points and 9 rebounds for the Saints.