A defensive barrage greeted the home team Wednesday night at Wheaton Warrenville South.

Following a 3-point make by St. Charles North senior Riley Barber, the North Stars forced a 10-second violation.

By the opening frame’s end, North forced three turnovers, a pair thanks to stifling full-court pressure, and coach Grant Oler’s squad kept up that intensity all game long on the way to a 43-30 DuKane Conference victory.

“We took a hard look at ourselves over the Christmas break time and said, ‘We’re not playing at our potential. There’s another gear here,’” Oler said. “We worked really hard to find it, and today was a manifestation of what they’ve done in practice the last couple days. They were tremendous. I was so pleased with how they played defensively.”

Lelanie Posada, a junior point guard for North (12-3, 4-1), applied consistent pressure from her position at the point of the North Stars defense, snagging three steals in the contest. She utilized the open floor to find teammates in transition, finishing with eight assists.

Sydney Johnson, the recipient of four of those dimes and the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, praised her teammate after the victory.

“Lanie’s a great teammate,” said Johnson, who has played with Posada since her sophomore season on JV. “Obviously we’ve been able to build that chemistry over the past three years. It’s just really good to have a teammate that believes in me.”

A game of runs saw the Tigers (7-10, 1-4) claw back from an 11-point deficit at the end of the first quarter to cut the lead to six by halftime.

Tigers senior Lucy Jethani found fellow senior Abby Keighron for a pair of corner 3-pointers, the second of which cut the North lead to 23-17 just before time expired. Jethani filled up the stat sheet with six rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Keighron added 10 points of her own.

However, North stormed out of the gates post-intermission, uncorking a 13-2 run to close out the third quarter. Led by seven points from Johnson and three more assists from Posada, the North Stars opened up an 18-point lead.

“I think we’re just looking forward to keeping the intensity,” Johnson said. “We just were coming off two losses and we really wanted to focus on our fundamentals and everything, so carrying that into next game.”

Alongside Keira Connolly, who added five assists of her own, the junior-led backcourt accounted for 13 total dishes that led to scores.

“I want to say it’s some drill or something that we work on, but it’s not,” Oler said. “They genuinely care about each other and want to see each other have success.”

“I’m just so happy that they love playing with each other and it makes it fun basketball to watch.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20260107/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-st-charles-north-turns-up-the-pressure-gets-back-on-track-with-win-at-ww-south/