Rough 4th quarter costs St. Charles North
The growing pains continued for St. Charles North on Wednesday at the 36th annual Dundee-Crown Komaromy Classic.
After taking the biggest lead by either team at 27-21 on a pair of free throws by Emma Nawara, the North Stars scored just 5 points over the final 7 minutes, turning the ball over 8 times in the fourth quarter of a 32-30 loss to Trinity.
Zyerra Strafford provided the final nail in the coffin, getting fouled going up for a shot after a baseline drive to the basket with .5 seconds remaining in a tie game. Strafford made both free throws, and the Blazers broke up the North Stars' last-ditch baseball pass to Annie Tate.
"Very disappointing," North Stars coach Mike Tomczak said. "We consistently in the second half are not taking the amount of shots we need to take to even give us a chance to be successful. We are so young and so inexperienced that down the stretch we are not even giving ourselves a chance."
St. Charles North (7-5) will play Barrington at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Trinity (7-6) advances to the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. against Maine West.
The North Stars led nearly the entire game including 9-7 after one quarter when they executed an out-of-bounds play in the final second with Emma Ludwig finding Tate.
Other than the final score, Trinity's only lead of the game came at 16-15 at halftime, but the North Stars quickly went back up in the third quarter on Tate's baseline jumper.
Despite making just 10 of 34 shots through three quarters, the North Stars led 25-21 going to the fourth quarter only to see Trinity's full-court pressure make the difference over the final 8 minutes.
"We realized they didn't like to be pressured so we stepped our pressure up a little bit," Trinity coach Kimberly Coleman said. "Definitely a defensive effort in the fourth quarter. It helps when all five players are ready to pressure the basketball."
Tate went behind her back on a nifty drive through the lane that put the North Stars up 30-28 with 1:20 remaining. But Maddie Miller tied it, and with possession and a chance to win the North Stars once again turned it over which led to Strafford's game-winning free throws.
"Too many turnovers," Tomczak said.
Trinity's Makiyah Williams was the only player on either team in double figures with 13 points. Tate (8 points, 5 rebounds), Ludwig (7 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) and Caroline Jakaitis (6 points, 6 rebounds) paced the North Stars.