St. Charles North shakes off York

York did everything within its powers to contain the St. Charles North girls basketball team Monday night in Glen Ellyn.

"Part of it was they did something (defensively) that we haven't seen," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said after the North Stars were held to a season-low in first-half production in the semifinals of the Class 4A Glenbard West regional. "They're a great defensive team."

But St. Charles North scored the last 4 points of the third quarter and the opening 4 of the final quarter to break free from the final tie in posting a 46-37 victory over the pesky Dukes.

St. Charles North (20-8), the seventh seed of the Schaumburg sectional complex, will meet No. 3 Geneva (23-4) on Thursday night. Tenth-seeded York closed its year at 15-15.

Geneva defeated the North Stars twice in Upstate Eight River regular-season play.

"This is what we wanted," Masoncup said. "We wanted Geneva in the finals. We are starting to peak."

With the York defense collapsing on St. Charles North post Claire Jakaitis at every turn, the task fell to Kyla Helsel to soften up the Dukes' sagging defense.

The guard responded with three 3-pointers, including back-to-back possessions in the third quarter, in scoring 11 points to augment Jakaitis' game-high 13-point total.

The Helsel 3-pointers were much needed after St. Charles North needed two late second-quarter free throws from Rayanne Shockey to take a 17-16 lead into the break.

"My team was able to get me the ball," Helsel said. "(York collapsing on the North Stars' post players) opened it up for me. We walked in there not realizing this could be our last game."

"It took the whole first quarter to get into the game," Jakaitis said of the North Stars' uncharacteristic 4-point opening quarter. "It was important (for the post players) to kick it out when they were doubling down."

Ellen Foley, Kristen Viola and Kaylin Kenny all had 3-pointers for York in the third quarter to forge ties.

But Grace Quinn gave St. Charles North the lead for good with a pair at the line late in the third quarter.

When Pozna beat the third-quarter buzzer with a baseline-right jumper, the North Stars' led 41-37 after three quarters. Jakaitis and Quinn then opened the fourth with consecutive field goals, and York never came closer than 5 points the remainder of the game.

York was a statistic oddity in the final quarter as the team attempted only one conventional field goal - Caylin Rufus' putback.

York finished the game 7-for-24 from beyond the arc.

"(A perimeter attack) has been extremely normal for us, especially in the second half (of the season)," York coach John Constable said. " We did a lot of things right offensively, but we just couldn't many shots to drop."

Viola led York with 9 points.