Cary-Grove topples St. Charles North

Cary-Grove watched an 8-point lead quickly evaporate. But just as quickly, the Trojans built the lead back up to 10. After that, Cary-Grove held on to defeat St. Charles North, 64-58, in both teams' final girls basketball tuneup before regionals.

Claire Jakubicek had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in the nonconference affair on Senior Day, while Kiley Hackbarth led the North Stars with 16 points.

The Trojans led 42-34 late in the third, but St. Charles North (21-8) went on a 12-3 run, taking a 46-45 lead on Tess Fischer's 3-pointer with 6:30 to play in the game.

Jakubicek scored to put Cary-Grove (25-3) ahead to stay. She then assisted on 3 straight 3-pointers, 2 by Liz Bart and one by Liz Dyrek. Just like that, Cary-Grove led 56-46, and the North Stars never seriously threatened after that.

Both coaches felt that the back-and-forth affair got their teams prepared for the postseason.

"We needed to build some momentum, because in the last 3 games, although we won 2 out of 3, we really didn't play that well," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. "We did that tonight. We've got some momentum heading into our own regional."

Likewise for St. Charles North.

"We really had some strong points in that second half, and that's a great ballgame to play before you go into the regionals," said North Stars' coach Colleen Brennan. "That's exactly what we wanted. I wish the game would have come out differently, though."

Bart finished with 14 points and Dyrek added 12, all on 3-pointers, for Cary-Grove. Olivia Jakubicek had 11 rebounds to go with 5 points.

Sydney Russell had 14 points and 7 rebounds for St. Charles North. Jenna Bell added 11 points and Dana Sibley had 10.