St. Charles East loses in strange fashion

Here's a riddle that won't bring a smile to the face of any St. Charles East fan.

When does a 52-51 victory go into the books as a 59-57 overtime loss?

That's just what happened to the Saints in a surreal scene against Loyola Wednesday night in St. Charles.

Leading the entire second and third quarters, the Saints fell behind 42-41 with 3:35 remaining. Saints guard Lexi Baltes, who was brilliant all night, took over, hitting a 3-pointer to regain the lead, then following with two free throws and an assist to Kara Schnier that put the Saints in control 48-42 with 2:20 left.

That's when the controversy started, though nobody noticed until overtime. Baltes was fouled with 1:15 remaining and made both free throws, which should have given the Saints a 50-42 lead.

Instead, only one point showed up on the scoreboard, leaving the Saints up 49-42. The teams played through it, and a basket by Audrey Gaughan and a free throw for each side left the Saints ahead 50-45.

Baltes split two free throws with 33 seconds, but a 3-pointer by Meghan McKeown brought the Ramblers within 51-48.

The Saints missed two more free throws, and Gaughan capitalized with a game-tying 3-pointer with 8 seconds left. The Saints got off a 19-footer from the corner at the buzzer that didn't fall, sending the game to overtime tied at 51 even though the Saints had 52 points.

"There was one point when I looked up and questioned it but usually the crowd is going nuts (saying) 'The scoreboard is wrong,'" St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said. "It's easy to point fingers.

"The bottom line is we do a little better job at the end of regulation it's a moot point."

The coaches finally came together 50 seconds into overtime and after comparing scorebooks the officials put the Saints' 52nd point on the scoreboard.

"Our book did have 51," Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker said. "Obviously they added it (the 52nd point) in the overtime. Thank God it wasn't in regulation, it was in overtime, it gave us a chance to win."

By then Loyola had taken a 53-52 lead. Schnier put the Saints on top one last time at 54-53 on a feed from Jaime Rust.

Another Gaughan 3-pointer - she had 4 in the game - gave the Ramblers the lead for good. Rust's 3-pointer brought the Saints within 58-57 and after Gaughan split free throws the Saints had a chance to tie with 5.8 seconds left.

Baltes drove the length of the court to the top of the key only to have her pass knocked away as time expired.

Baltes led the Saints with 21 points while Gaughan poured in 23 for the Ramblers (11-10). It wasn't the lost point that upset the Saints as much as losing the big lead in the final minute.

"They (the players) don't even know what the controversy was," Drumtra said. "They know there was a big delay. They are disappointed they had a 6-point lead and couldn't hang onto it."

The shame - besides the Saints' record being at 11-7 instead of 12-6 - is the controversy overshadowed a well-played game filled with big shots by both teams.

Loyola drilled nine 3-pointers, many from well behind the arc. St. Charles East got solid games from pretty much its entire lineup, including 4 blocks and 9 points by Kala Sigona, 9 points from Schnier, 8 points and 6 rebounds from Rust and 2 big baskets off the bench by Danielle Jordan.

"That was definitely a rough game but I think you give both teams credit," Schnier said. "We both kept fighting back. Every time I thought we were getting a little momentum they would hit us with a 3 or a key bucket. It was definitely a game of tug-and-war."