Girls basketball: St. Charles East sticks together, battles past Glenbard West
While its patented transition game was put on hold by Glenbard West during a 21-21 halftime deadlock, St. Charles East’s girls basketball team turned to its defense Tuesday night.
Outscoring the Hilltoppers 10-2 in the third quarter, the Saints (19-6) later built a 38-28 lead with 5:07 remaining before turning back a late Glenbard rally during their 45-36 nonconference victory in St. Charles.
“When we are stuck to the halfcourt (game), we need to hyper-focus on reversing the ball, attacking the basket — moving the ball,” said Saints coach Katie Claussner. “We did not do that in the first half.
“That was our big talk at halftime.”
After the Hilltoppers (16-10) took a 23-21 lead on an inside basket by sophomore Ellie Noble (5 points, 10 rebounds) in the first 15 seconds of the third quarter, they didn’t score another point the rest of the period.
Meanwhile, the Saints finished the quarter on an 8-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Addie Schilb (10 points, 3 rebounds) and Corinne Reed (9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals) to grab a 31-23 lead.
“I told the girls that we can get any three we want if we do it from attacking the basket,” said Claussner, whose team shot 1 for 10 from beyond the arc in the first half.
“If we’re just going to stand there and hope a three is going to happen, it’s not going to happen. It must come from attacking the basket and reversing the ball.”
After the Hilltoppers pulled within 31-28 following a deep 3-pointer from Mya Austin (8 points) with 6:34 remaining, the Saints responded with a 7-0 run that included a steal and layup from senior Sofia O’Sullivan (9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) and a corner 3-pointer by freshman Brooklyn Schilb (team-high 15 points, 4 rebounds).
“We needed to be aggressive driving and kicking,” said Schilb, who helped preserve the win by knocking down 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter. “We all were able to find each other and knock down the threes.
“We needed to stick together in order to get this win.”
The Saints also received an energy boost from senior Alyse Price (2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals).
“She does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” said Claussner. “She plays so hard. You know what you’re getting from her every night.”
In the middle of a 4 games in 7-day span, the Saints visit Lake Park Wednesday before hosting St. Charles North Friday.
“We tried not to make practice as intense as usual yesterday,” said Claussner. “We’re giving them next weekend off because we’re going to need it.”
Senior Julia Benjamin led the Hilltoppers with 21 points.
“We want to be in those types of games where you’re playing a real good team,” said Glenbard West coach Kristi Faulkner. “It had a little bit of a playoff-type atmosphere. We’re hoping it helps us out in the long run.”