Saints' rally falls short; WA wins consolation title

Despite a valiant second-half comeback, St. Charles East's boys basketball team couldn't quite climb over the proverbial hump.

As a result, the Saints (5-9) dropped their third consecutive game, losing a 62-57 decision to Brother Rice (9-4) in Saturday's seventh-place game at the York-Jack Tosh Holiday Classic in Elmhurst.

Trailing by 14 at 52-38 late in the third quarter, the Saints scored the final 8 points of the period -- including back-to-back 3-point baskets from Marc Stellato -- to pull within 52-46.

After falling behind by 8 early in the fourth quarter, the Saints once again mounted a late charge, as Stellato's three-point play made it 58-57 with 2:46 remaining.

But the Crusaders, who led the entire way, escaped with the victory as the Saints misfired on a potential game-tying 3-point attempt with 10 seconds left.

"If we play like that, we're going to win a ton of games," said Saints coach Brian Clodi. "We held them to 23 second-half points. We won the third and fourth quarters. We won the second half -- it just wasn't enough."

It wasn't enough, partially because of the Crusaders' fast start coupled with the play of senior guard Sean O'Reilly, who tallied 26 of his game-high 31 points over the final 3 quarters.

With 6-foot-6 forward Mike Kennedy scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first quarter, Brother Rice connected on 10 of its first 13 shots while taking a 23-10 lead in the first 6 minutes.

"They hit their first seven shots -- what are you going to do?" said Clodi. "They were red-hot. We told our guys that they're not going to shoot like that the whole game."

And the Crusaders didn't.

After hitting 11 of their first 16 shots, the Crusaders made just 10 of 34 field goal attempts over the final 3 quarters.

Meanwhile, the Saints received another strong performance from 6-foot-6 junior forward/center Kevin Senechalle (15 points, 18 rebounds), who kept his team close by recording a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards before halftime.

"The last three of four games he's had double-doubles," Clodi said of Senechalle, who was selected to the all-tournament team after totaling 62 points and 38 rebounds over 4 games.

"We told you in all the preseason stuff how good we think he can be. Three games in a row with 17 points -- we just feel like he's that kind of player."

For Senechalle, it was another tough, down-to-the-wire defeat.

"We just want to win now," he said. "We're in all these games. It's not like we're overmatched or anything."

Collin Pryor and Brian Lankton added 6 points apiece for the Saints.

"We ended up a little short but we're so proud of our team," said Clodi. "We talk about our schedule -- this game made us better."

Aurora Christian 58, Genoa-Kingston 52: The Eagles made 12 free throws in the fourth quarter from several different players to secure third place at Plano's tournament Saturday.

"We'll take it," Aurora Christian coach Don Davidson said. "(Going) 3-1 out of 16 teams is pretty good."

The Eagles' lone loss in the tournament was to the No. 1 seeded team in the tournament, Spring Valley Hall. Genoa-Kingston was No. 2 and the Eagles were the fourth seed.

Travis Cleveland had his best varsity game after putting up 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

"He had a big night for us," Davidson said.

Joe Redmond scored a team-high 14 points, while Eric Andersen netted 11 points for Aurora Christian (8-5).

Girls basketball

West Aurora 47, Jacobs 46:ŒWhen you win by 1 point in overtime, there are so many turning points and potential "key moments" that it's almost impossible to recount them all.

But the West Aurora girls basketball team finished a scrambling performance with one final surge inside the final half-minute of overtime to tip Jacobs 47-46 for the West Aurora Bill Neibch Classic consolation title.

"It seemed like we were always down and catching up," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said.

The victory completes a 3-1 performance at the Neibch Classic for the Blackhawks. After losing its opener to Hersey, West Aurora (9-6) moved through the consolation side of the bracket to claim the title.

"We're proud of what we did," Siljendahl said. "We were down three starters in the game. But Sam (Alvis) and Maddie (Whitt) came in and they were JV players and we looked out of synch."

Though there were still some rough spots, the Blackhawks were much more cohesive in Saturday's contest than they were in Wednesday's tournament opener.

Tyronza McGowan's free throws were key -- she made 2-of-5 in the overtime and hit the 2 free throws, in separate shooting situations, that gave the Blackhawks a 47-44 lead with 11 seconds left.

When McGowan missed after putting her team up 46-44, Devin Vaughn grabbed the rebound and fed McGowan, who was fouled.

"That was big," Siljendahl said. "I told (Vaughn) that if she never got another rebound, that was a big one right there."

Jacobs worked hard to keep Kyra Watson under wraps under the basket. As a result, Watson finished with 7 points and struggled with foul trouble through the game.

Kiara Towles stepped into the scoring leadership role. She scored 15 points before fouling out late in overtime.

"They all did their part," Siljendahl said. "We knew Jacobs is a tremendous defensive team. We walked through things, but until you're out there, you find yourself in the wrong spots."

Jacobs' Markie Rahn caused problems all night with her inside moves and her mid-range shooting ability. She had 15 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 24.

From Rahn's contribution, there was a dropoff. Hailey Cnota and Maria Tamburrino scored 6 points apiece for the Eagles.

Jacobs led for much of the game after jumping to a 7-2 lead. The Eagles had an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter and led 24-20 at halftime.

Although West Aurora rallied to take the lead in the third quarter, Jacobs still led 35-32 entering the final quarter. Even in the final minute of regulation, Jacobs held a 40-38 lead. Free throws by Vaughn and Watson forced the 40-40 tie that carried into overtime.

-- Darryl Mellema

St. Charles East 40, Glenbard North 37: The Saints placed 11th at Wheaton North's tournament with a win over the Panthers.

Tasha Lalos led the way with 13 points and Lexi Baltes scored 10 for the Saints.

Aurora Christian 61, Aurora Central Catholic 22: The Eagles used a 26-point first quarter to beat the Chargers in the last day of Oswego East's tournament Saturday.

Lauren Heck almost outscored the Chargers herself, as Aurora Christian's leading scorer posted 19 points to go with her 13 rebounds.

Chelsea Cooper tallied 9 points, Rachel Mertens 8 points and Kim Rasich totaled 8 rebounds and 6 points for the Eagles, who improved to 7-8.

Sonja Steder led ACC with 8 points.

South Elgin 59, Kaneland 55: Brittney Hankes, Katie Hatch and Sara Rose all tallied double-digits, but it was not enough to overcome the Storm at Oswego East's tournament.

Hankes and Rose each finished with 11 and Hatch recorded team highs of 13 points and 9 rebounds for the Knights, who are now 5-10 overall.