St. Charles East's hard work pays off
The wins have been few and far between this season but the effort hasn't been lacking for St. Charles East's girls basketball team.
Monday night helped make up for some of the narrow defeats suffered earlier in the year.
Limiting St. Charles North (15-11, 5-6) to just 8 second-half points, the Saints (5-21, 3-9) scrapped their way to a 35-27 DuKane Conference victory over their cross-town rivals at St. Charles East.
Trailing 21-20 in the third quarter and held scoreless for nearly 7 minutes, the Saints grabbed the lead for good at 22-21 on a tough, off-balance runner in traffic by senior Ashley DiOrio (9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) with 1:12 left in the period.
The Saints gained some breathing room by scoring 3 points over the final 2.8 seconds of the third quarter.
First, sophomore guard Leah Griffin split a pair of free throws before classmate Makenna Brown tipped the rebound to junior Elle McCaslin, whose buzzer-beating short baseline jumper extended the lead to 25-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
After the North Stars trimmed the deficit to 27-25 on a layup by Anna Tate (10 points, 6 rebounds) with 5:02 remaining, the Saints responded with a 7-0 run over the next 4 minutes to seal the decision.
Freshman guard Torrie Kortan (5 points, 5 rebounds) began the surge with a 3-pointer and seniors Taylor Shead (3 points, 4 rebounds) and Lexi Kiefer (3 points) each split 2 free throws before DiOrio calmly sank a pair of foul shots with a minute left.
"We've been working really hard at practice and we're so close every single game," said DiOrio. "I can't tell you the amount of games we've lost by one or two points (4 total). We're a young team and I'm so happy leaving this program for the younger kids knowing that we're making progress."
The win, which avenged a 38-37 loss to the North Stars on Dec. 21, came on the heels of the Saints' tough 46-42 loss to a surging Batavia team last Saturday.
"I wouldn't say the effort or preparation was different but when we needed to play with the poise that we've been talking about all season long, they did that," said Saints coach Aubree Schuett.
"That's really good and really telling with where we're at as a group. I'm super proud of my kids."
Freshman Olivia Kiefer tallied all 7 of her points in the second quarter as the Saints grabbed a 20-19 halftime lead.
"They're really coming together as a group and what better time than now before we start the playoffs," said Schuett.
Defensively, the Saints forced 18 turnovers.
"Scoring has been a problem for us but we definitely believe that defense comes first," said DiOrio.
Freshman Emma Ludwig added 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals for the North Stars, who made just 3 of 12 free throws.
"We got plenty of good looks and we got uncontested looks at the free-throw line," said North Stars coach Mike Tomczak. "We had every opportunity to take the game today. We're going to be disappointed but we've got to do what we can to come back tomorrow (vs. Batavia).
"I think we'll be fine but we wish we would've gotten this one."