Kathlyn Bainbridge could feel that things were getting a little too close for comfort heading into the locker room.

While St. Charles East entered halftime with a three-point lead over Geneva, the sophomore knew something needed to change if they wanted to pull away.

And while she only hit one 3-pointer in the first half, she knew that it could be what made the difference.

“Watching that one go in in the first half definitely gave me the confidence to keep shooting more,” Bainbridge said. “And after that, I just kept watching them go in, so it wasn’t hard to keep shooting them.”

Bainbridge would go on to hit four more shots from behind the arc and finish the night with 19 points to help the Saints pull away for a 57-47 victory over the Vikings.

“When Kathlyn is confident with her shot, that girl’s unstoppable,” Saints coach Katie Claussner said. “She’s just got to be confident with shooting the ball every time, and it showed there in the second half.”

With the win, the Saints (18-11 overall, 11-3 DuKane) secured second place in the DuKane Conference standings, finishing behind only Lake Park in the rankings.

“We obviously wanted to defend our title, but this is one of the toughest conferences in the area, and getting second is an accomplishment,” Claussner said. “Our girls battled every game. And in this one, our offense carried us.”

After scoring 24 points in the first half, the Saints opened up the scoring thanks to their 3-point shooting. The Saints were 7 of 9 from beyond the arc, with junior Ari Bigda also hitting multiple triples in the second half.

“Seeing (Ari) hit those shots definitely contributed to my energy,” Bainbridge said. “Seeing the ball going in for her too was great. She’s a great shooter; it’s just something that doesn’t happen every game.”

Bigda finished with 10 points off three triples. Fellow junior Stella Trask added eight points.

It also marked the first time this season that neither of the sister duo of sophomore Brooklyn Schilb and senior Addie Schilb topped 10 points in a game. And with Claussner expecting the two to be focal points of defenses in the playoffs, she was happy to see the all-around effort on offense.

“Those are the kind of performances that we need from them,” Claussner said. “Especially going into the playoffs. Every single person needs to step up and be able to be a threat.”

Geneva (13-14, 8-6) managed to keep close for most of the game, but a few costly turnovers in the fourth quarter pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time – a stark contrast from its first game against East, losing 60-28 back on Jan. 15.

The Vikings did make their presence known on the boards, outrebounding the Saints 31-26.

“Our kids played hard, and they played tough, and that’s what we wanted,” Vikings coach Sarah Meadows said. “We rebounded better than we did last time, and we know it’s their strength. We just needed to be aggressive, tough and rebound, and I feel like they did all three.”

Leading the charge both on the boards and in the scoring was sophomore Emma Peterson, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Freshman Adelyn Estabrook added 11 points and seven rebounds, while senior Keira McCann tacked on 14 points.

“(Peterson) is just so big for us in the paint,” Meadows said. “And we’ve been harping on Adelyn to be more aggressive on offense, and she’s been doing that for us. We’re getting there, and I’m very happy with that effort.”