St. Charles North bent but did not break when Geneva made its second-half run in Thursday’s DuKane Conference girls basketball game.

Trailing 24-11 at halftime, the Vikings switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man in an effort to wrestle the lead from the North Stars. Geneva’s press initially yielded the desired effect. At the 4:19 mark of the third quarter, an Emma Peterson basket narrowed the St. Charles North’s margin to 28-20. The sophomore scored a team-high 13 points.

The host North Stars countered by tightening their defense, yielding only seven more points the rest of the way for a 44-27 win.

“Geneva just played with more energy (in the third quarter) and we had to respond in turn. We took some shots that were probably a little more on the questionable side and the girls knew that,” said St. Charles North coach Grant Oler. “A lot of them are seniors and they know how to finish games. It was good to see that fourth quarter when they really decided, ‘OK, we got this. Oler, you can just settle down.’”

Oler lauded the effort displayed by Brianna Buono, Keira Connolly and Mia Nowak.

“They were wonderful,” the North Stars coach said. “The way they pressured the ball set the tone for the defense.”

St. Charles North (15-5, 6-2) anticipated Geneva’s change in strategy.

“We knew they were going to press,” said North Star Sydney Johnson. “We saw the JV game, so we assumed that they were going to press. So we have our sets ready and knew where to look.”

In addition to scoring a game-high 15 points, Johnson blocked three Vikings shots.

“Putting the press on in the third quarter helped us a little bit and then I think we got tired,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “We just got to make more baskets. We made seven baskets (in the second half) and we had opportunities. We have just got to score. It’s hard to beat a team when you have that few baskets.”

The North Stars dominated in the first quarter, outscoring the Vikings 14-3.

“We kept persistent throughout the whole game. We were able to pressure the ball and make the right reads,” Johnson said.

Geneva (9-12, 4-4) played a more competitive second quarter, tallying eight points to St. Charles North’s 10.

North Star Riley Barber, who pulled down 10 rebounds, ended the first half by nailing a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from the top of the key.

“We just come out soft in the first quarter and in the second we finally got some stops,” Meadows said. “If we could have converted some of those into baskets, I think it’s would have been a different game.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20260122/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-3/