St. Charles North tips Saints in final seconds

Execution down the stretch paid dividends for St. Charles North's girls basketball team Friday night.

Senior forward Anna Tate found junior forward Caroline Jakaitis cutting to the hoop for a layup with 8.8 seconds remaining to help lift the host North Stars (7-4, 2-1) to a 38-37 DuKane Conference victory over cross-town rival St. Charles East (1-11, 1-3).

"That was crazy," said Jakaitis, who finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots for the North Stars. "Anna (Tate) made a great pass as I was going toward the basket."

The Saints had a couple chances to win it at the end but misfired on a pair of contested shots.

"Six weeks ago, we scored 12 points in a varsity basketball game," said Saints coach Aubree Schuett. "I'm not at all disappointed in our preparation for this game. We played team basketball."

Tate led all players with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 assists for the North Stars, who committed 28 turnovers and were out-rebounded 36-31.

"No matter what you say, no matter what the records are, this game is going to be a fight no matter what," said North Stars coach Mike Tomczak. "You have to credit how hard (St. Charles) East plays all the time.

"Fifteen turnovers in the first half are totally unacceptable. It's not something we typically do. Maybe the moment got to us a little bit. I also credit their (Saints) hustle because we typically dominate the boards but got dominated, especially in the first half."

Tomczak was pleased with his team's mental toughness during the frenetic final seconds.

"There was a whole lot of stuff going on at the end of the game," said Tomczak. "I thought our girls defended well and I thought we earned it down the stretch."

Freshman Emma Ludwig added 9 points and 4 steals for the North Stars, who led 14-7 after 1 quarter and 19-17 at halftime.

Trailing 28-25 after 3 quarters, the Saints came back to tie it at 34-34 on a pair of free throws from Taylor Shead (6 points) with 3:03 remaining.

A minute and a half later, Shead split a pair of foul shots to give the Saints their first lead of the game at 35-34.

Senior Ashley DiOrio's driving layup put St. Charles East on top 37-36 with 35 seconds left, setting the stage for a wild finish.

DiOrio led the Saints with 10 points and 3 steals, while freshman Torrie Kortan added 8 points and 11 rebounds, and senior Lexi Kiefer had 8 points.

"We definitely got better tonight," said Schuett. "We rebounded well - 19 offensive rebounds or something crazy like that.

"St. Charles North is a great team. They've got veteran players and some great freshmen."