Looking to make its first state semifinal appearance, St. Charles East’s girls basketball team got off to a 7-0 lead over Loyola Academy through the game’s first 4½ minutes.

At halftime, the Saints trailed the state’s top-ranked Ramblers, 18-17.

Through three quarters, the Saints (22-12) still found themselves within striking distance, down 36-28.

In the end, Loyola (33-2) proved to be a little too much, outscoring the gritty Saints 20-6 in the final quarter on the way to a 56-34 Class 4A supersectional victory at Hoffman Estates.

While extending their winning streak to 24 games, the Ramblers punched a ticket downstate for the third consecutive season. Loyola will face Rolling Meadows (23-10) in the state semifinals at 4:15 p.m. Friday in Normal.

“We’re a way better shooting team than we displayed tonight,” Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker said of his team’s 35 percent performance from the field (18 for 51). “But at this time of year, defense wins championships.

“I thought we did a tremendous job defensively.”

It took just 5 seconds for the Saints to get on the board, as sophomore guard Kathlyn Bainbridge converted on an uncontested layup off the opening tip.

“Unfortunately, that was probably our only transition offense the whole game,” said Saints coach Katie Claussner. “Transition is our bread and butter. We can’t go away from it just because the other team is ranked number one.”

Following senior Addie Schilb’s baseline jumper and sophomore Brooklyn Schilb’s 3-pointer, the fired-up Saints held a 7-0 lead.

Loyola retaliated with 13 unanswered points before Addie Schilb tallied the Saints’ next seven points, including back-to-back 3-pointers that helped tie the game at 15-all.

Claire Weasler’s 3-pointer with 57 seconds remaining helped provide the Ramblers with a one-point halftime lead despite the team’s 2-for-14 accuracy from beyond the 3-point arc.

Four straight free throws from sophomore Brooklyn Schilb (11 points) gave the Saints their last lead of the game at 21-19 with 6:44 left in the third quarter.

Junior guard Maddie Locke (9 points) countered with back-to-back 3-pointers for the Ramblers.

Addie Schilb’s third 3-pointer of the game trimmed the deficit to 31-28 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter before Loyola closed out the period with a 5-0 run capped by senior Marycait Mackie’s late 3-pointer.

“Marycait finally saw one go down,” said Schoenecker. “We said at halftime, ‘just keep shooting because they’re going to fall.’”

Kaitlyn McGovern led Loyola with 12 points, while junior center Emily Naraky added nine points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists.

Playing despite a pulled hamstring, Addie Schilb led the Saints with 13 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of steals.

“This whole playoff season, she has been our glue – scoring, rebounding, steals,” said Claussner. “She has done it all.”

“Obviously, I wasn’t 100 percent but don’t be sad it’s over – be happy it happened,” said Schilb. “I’m proud of all my teammates. We were one of the top eight teams in the state, and that’s an accomplishment.

“I’m thankful for the whole coaching staff for believing in me these last three years.”

The Saints have posted a 67-32 mark during Claussner’s first 3 years as head coach.

“The end score was not indicative of our fight for three quarters,” said Claussner. “We won a sectional championship. We finished second in a stacked conference. We played a loaded schedule – 10 of our losses came against top-15 teams.”