St. Charles East shooting for big season

When it comes to offensive firepower, you won't find too many teams more fun to watch than Lori Drumtra's St. Charles East Saints.

With guards Paige Jordan and Amanda Hilton back St. Charles East certainly has the building blocks to improve on last year's 11-18 record. The Saints will find out quickly where they stand with the always challenging Schaumburg Thanksgiving Tournament followed by Upstate Eight Conference games against Streamwood, Batavia and Geneva.

"We are a year older and wiser," Drumtra said. "We have several people who can score for us and have a little more height inside. I think you will definitely see improvement over last year. Fans should expect to see a fast-paced game with lots of defensive pressure."

Hilton, a sophomore, started every game of her freshman year and averaged 10.7 points a game while the junior Jordan led the team in scoring at 12 points a game despite missing a third of the season with a broken hand.

"We look to Paige to be one of our scorers, to create opportunities for herself and her teammates with her penetration," Drumtra said. "Amanda is a threat to score in a lot of ways from the 3-point line, by penetrating and at the free-throw line."

Senior Morgan Vyzral also returns after starting most of last year and will be counted on for leadership and inside scoring.

Junior Laney Deckrow made great strides over the summer according to Drumtra and will be counted on to help on the boards.

Senior Annie Martines will give the Saints another quick ballhandler and someone who can disrupt other teams' offenses. Drumtra said junior Carly Pottle runs the floor well and will help the team in transition.

Without much height the Saints struggled rebounding last year so Drumtra is hoping seniors Cayleigh Ballard and Kelly Cada can both help inside.

To further help inside, the Saints will bring up freshman Kyra Washington. In her first game as a Saint, Washington had a double-double against Glenbrook South Tuesday.

"She has a lot of talent; has the height to help us on the boards and the shooting and ball-handling skills to play on the perimeter," Drumtra said of Washington.

Other newcomers include versatile junior Anna Bartels and sophomore Jordan Shead.

Drumtra said she expects defending champion Geneva to again be the team to beat. But she's also excited to see how her squad can play against both the Vikings and the other conference teams who defeated them last year.

"After Geneva, however, I think it will be very competitive," Drumtra said. "Batavia had a good year last year and has a nice group coming back. (St. Charles) North is always strong. Streamwood graduated their top two players but have three starters returning. I think we will be very competitive with these teams. We went 0-8 against these four teams last year. We are looking to turn that around."