DeKalb coach Bradley Bjelk said Thursday’s 56-39 home win over Plainfield East was a lot like the Barbs’ season.

There were a lot of hot stretches, too many cold spells and when the team needed a spark, senior Naz Dean came through.

“She did a great job again,” Bjelk said. “I couldn’t be more proud of her. Her defense and her effort and her engine are second to none. She’s really worked her butt off this year and done great for us. She’s been such a spark.”

The Barbs built up a 30-11 lead after a three-point play by Angela Gary with 3:30 left in the second quarter.

But DeKalb (14-17) went the next 6:43 without scoring and the Bengals cut the deficit to 30-22 on a pair of free throws by Gianna Thompson, who finished with a team-high 13 points.

But Dean got the Barbs on the board with a bucket with 4:53 left in the third quarter, then immediately got a steal and a layup to push the lead back to 12.

“Third quarter isn’t always our best quarter, but we did come out and try our best,” Dean said. “I feel like at the end of the third we really needed to lock in and convert on those points we needed. I feel like once we got our momentum going it was hard to stop us.”

In the final two minutes of the quarter, Dean and senior Olivia Schermerhorn scored eight points in a row. Two buckets were by Schermerhorn off of Dean steals, a third was by Dean off of a Schermerhorn steal, and the fourth was a Schermerhorn layup without the benefit of a steal.

Schermerhorn finished with 16 points and seven steals while Dean had eight points, three rebounds and four steals as the Barbs celebrated senior night.

“I’m just looking to get the ball in front of me and keep it in front of me,” Dean said. “It just ends up being a steal because I feel like I work so hard, and as well as Olivia. So we’re looking for our teammates on those steals, those assists, and those convert into points obviously.”

Gary, another DeKalb senior, finished 14 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. The Barbs forced 28 turnovers by Plainfield East (8-21), leading to 16 points.

The Barbs open the postseason on Tuesday in the Class 4A St. Charles East Regional. The 11th-seeded Barbs will face No. 6 Batavia with the winner likely facing the third-seeded hosts for the title on Thursday.

“I feel like it will be a good matchup,” Dean said. “Even though they’re ranked higher, I know we can put up a good fight. If we play like we did today we can go home with a win.”

The Bengals were down a pair of post players, DiMora Shelton (sick) and Emma Rodgers (knee). Coach Anthony Wazonis said, hopefully, Shelton is back before Saturday’s Class 4A Benet Regional play-in game at home against Aurora East. Rodgers is done for the year.

DeKalb finished with a slight 36-35 edge on the boards. Kennedy Crayton came off the bench to grab a team-high nine rebounds. Khloe Oglesby finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

“We felt like we were battling the whole time,” Wazonis said. “I’m proud with our effort and our execution of things. ... I was trying to limit their minutes for Saturday, but they’re competitors. We at least got them a little more rest than we usually do.”

DeKalb enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak. They lost four in a row before that. And prior to that losing streak, they had won five of six.

Bjelk said consistency - whether it’s game-to-game or quarter-to-quarter - has eluded the Barbs this season. He’s hoping some is on display Tuesday against the Bulldogs.

“We have to try to not have those waves as much,” Bjelk said. “We have to play good defense and share the ball on offense and get high-percentage looks.”