Kathlyn Bainbridge knew that the energy in St. Charles East’s season opener was a little lower than she expected.

After opening the season and York Girls Basketball Tournament with a loss to Prospect, the sophomore guard knew that the Saints had to come back with a better mindset against York on Tuesday.

And after the game went into overtime, she fully embraced the energy that was radiating from the sidelines.

“We didn’t come into overtime for nothing,” Bainbridge said. “We’ve all been practicing really hard, and I just really wanted it for us.”

Bainbridge finished with a team-high 16 points, including all seven points in overtime as the Saints held on for a 43-39 victory over the Dukes.

“We just stayed in it mentally the entire game,” Saints coach Katie Claussner said. “We talked with them after the loss the day before about staying in it no matter the score. Even when we went down late, everyone stayed in it mentally, we executed the play on offense and got to go into overtime.”

The Saints ended up tying the game with 1.9 seconds remaining. Trailing 36-34, senior Addie Schilb got sent to the line for two free throws to try and force the game into extra time.

And with the gym falling completely silent, the senior sank both of her shots to extend the game.

“I knew I had to make them,” Schilb said. “I knew I had to take my time while shooting and that my team was counting on me. There was no other choice but to make them.”

It was one of many times that St. Charles East converted at the free-throw line, finishing 19 of 22, which included Bainbridge sinking 8 of 8 in the second half and overtime.

“We practice doing the entire motion of free throws, like calming down, taking a deep breath and knocking them down,” Bainbridge said. “I knew our team needed all the points we could get so I just kept it going.”

The Saints entered halftime trailing 19-14, but quickly fought their way back into the lead thanks to sophomore Brooklyn Schilb, nine of her 14 points in the third quarter. And even with foul trouble forcing her out of the game midway through the fourth quarter, Claussner was happy to see how the team fully rallied.

“We battled with fouls all game long, and we needed people to step up for us,” Claussner said. “I thought our freshman Greta Mazurova really stepped up, Ari Bigda and Stella Trask got some key rebounds. And it was just a great team effort, and it feels better to come out of this with a win.”

The Dukes (1-1) took the lead in the fourth quarter with 45.2 seconds left after senior Ellie Kehoe picked up an initially deflected inbound pass and floated a layup off of the backboard to make it 36-35. The senior finished the night with a team-high 11 points and four steals.

“She’s our best athlete and our best defender, and if she’s going to be our leading scorer like she was in that game, we’ve got to get more around her,” Dukes coach Brandon Collings said. “Because if she can put up 12 points for us, then that’s a game we should win.”

Collings said he was proud of the defensive effort on the night, picking up 15 steals as a team. However, the Dukes struggled offensively from the contest, going 11 of 23 from the charity stripe and 4 of 21 from 3-point range.

“Our defense drives us, and it did in this game,” he said. “We just couldn’t finish it off on the offensive side. If we can start to execute better offensively, whether it’s finding better, easier looks or pushing the ball more, we’ll get better as a team.”