North Stars' run continues on

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Defense wins championships.

It did for St. Charles North on Thursday night, allowing the North Stars to defeat the host Indians 46-37 for the Rockton Hononegah Class 4A Sectional championship.

After breezing through their first three postseason games, the North Stars were tested by the undersized but scrappy Indians, who harassed North junior center Kelsey Smith all night.

But thanks to some clutch free-throw shooting in the final quarter and outstanding defense throughout the contest, the North Stars (23-5) didn't allow the Indians (26-7) anything easy either.

The North Stars held the perimeter-oriented Indians to only 5-of-22 shooting (23 percent) from beyond the arc. For the game, Hononegah made just 14 of 47 shots (29 percent) from the field against an aggressive North defense. North hit on 14 of 38 attempts (36 percent).

With the win, the North Stars advanced to Monday's Elgin Community College Super-Sectional. St. Charles North will play Buffalo Grove. The Bison defeated Wheeling 45-43 on Tuesday.

Prior to this season, St. Charles North had never won a regional.

"(Hononegah) was not in this sectional final game for nothing," North Stars coach Katie Sauber said. "They played us tough and we expected them to come at us with everything they had."

Hononegah basically came at Smith with everything it had. Often draped with three or four defenders, Smith spent most of her time fighting through screens and picking herself up from the floor.

However, when North's marquee player was allowed room to operate, she delivered. Coming off a career-high 34 points on Tuesday, Smith had 16 points, 14 rebounds and four second-half blocks.

"We just had to keep it together out there," Smith said. "They were playing physical, but that's just how some games are. You have to get past that and work together. Our guards were able to step up huge tonight."

In addition to Smith's normal commanding presence, the North Stars also got a lift from three other starters: senior Nika Sircher (2 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), junior Anna Conrad (9 points) and sophomore Kiley Hackbarth (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists).

Hackbarth hit all six of her free-throw attempts in the final quarter to help the North Stars hold off a late surge by the Indians, who trailed 32-19 entering the final stanza. Hononegah trimmed the deficit to 34-31 with 4:14 left to play on a putback by Chelsie Logan, but North answered with a 7-2 run, highlighted by four Hackbarth freebies and an inside hoop by Smith.

"Once we were able to slow down our offense we got under control," said Hackbarth, who was also an important figure defensively, along with Sircher. "Every time I stepped to the (free-throw) line I just kept telling myself 'This is our game. I'm going to put this in.' "

Added Sauber, "We knew if we could shut down their outside game and take care of the ball we could get out of here with a (win). They did a decent job of taking away Kelsey, but our guards stepped up and we came together for the victory."