Lake Park clinched a share of the DuKane Conference crown Thursday with a gritty 33-28 win over St. Charles East.
The night was still memorable for the Saints as sophomore Brooklyn Schilb scored her 1,000th point.
Both sides played a stifling defense. Lake Park (25-4, 11-1) connected on 12 baskets on the evening while host St. Charles (16-11, 9-3) canned nine.
“Our strategy all year has been to defend and make that center piece of what we do,” Lake Park coach Bob Reibel said. “When we are not great offensively like we were tonight, the defense got us by.”
“We couldn’t convert on the offensive end,” St. Charles East coach Katie Claussner said. “We got stops on defense. We had wide-open layups on the other end and we couldn’t convert them.”
Schilb hit the 1,000 milestone early in the game, connecting on two free throws at the 6:22 mark of the first quarter.
The free throws tied the game at 2-2 all and keyed a 6-2 run that put the Saints up 8-4 with 2:23 left in the quarter. Schilb also ended the run with a putback. The sophomore led all scorers with 13 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
“It felt great,” Schilb said about hitting the scoring milestone. “ I just want to give a shout out to my coaches and teammates who got me to this point.”
A hook shot by Lancer Allison Gogola, who scored 10 points, just before time expired in the quarter cut St. Charles East’s advantage to 8-6.
Lake Park retook the lead at the start of the second quarter on back-to-back layups by Alex Keifer. The senior led Lancers scoring with 12 points.
“I was in the mood and locked in,” Keifer said.
The Saints pulled within 11-10 on two Addie Schilb (six points) free throws.
Lake Park closed out the first half on a 5-2 run to hold a 16-12 advantage at intermission.
The Saints rallied again in the third quarter. Brooklyn Schilb drained the only three-pointer of the evening with a shot from the top of the key to make it a three-point game halfway through the quarter, 18-15.
St. Charles East’s Kathlyn Bainbridge followed with a layup in traffic at the 2:27 mark to narrow Lake Park’s lead to 18-17.
A Maggie Frank bucket returned the Lancers’ margin to 3 at the end of the third quarter, 22-19.
After scoring only six points in the third quarter, Lake Park tallied 11 in the final quarter for the win.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260205/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-lake-park-stymies-st-charles-east-to-clinch-share-of-dukane-title/