Santos steadies Vikings in victory

Updated: March 23, 2011 2:12PM

The shots wouldn't fall for Geneva and star junior Ashley Santos early in Wednesday's Class 4A St. Charles East Regional semifinal, so the Vikings simply kept playing defense.

Eventually, St. Charles East's upset bid fizzled and the Vikings cruised into today's 7:30 p.m. finals with an 82-45 victory.

"After four games in five days, and then a break, maybe we were kind of rusty," Geneva coach Gina Nolan acknowledged.

Then again, the Saints had a lot to do with Geneva (22-6) struggling to a six-point edge 1:30 minutes into the third quarter before turning the game into a rout.

"They came out hard and we were expecting that," Nolan said. "That's OK, but we didn't match their intensity that first half."

A 27-10 third quarter let Geneva turn a tight battle into a chance at its third straight regional crown after East had been within 32-26 with 6:30 minutes left in the third quarter.

Santos recovered from a 1-for-6 start from the field to score a team-high 19 points, while Kat Yelle had 13 points and Sammy Scofield 12 for the Vikings.

"I thought it was a good first half, then that third quarter we just weren't very good," St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra sad. "Their kids turned it up a notch and we weren't able to."

St. Charles East hung close until Santos and Kat Yelle sandwiched three-pointers around a rebound bucket by the Saints' Laney Deckrow. That left the Saints down 38-28. Then Sammy Scofield hit two free throws for a 40-28 lead, preceding five straight Saints turnovers and nine in 12 trips up the floor.

St. Charles East failed to score over a five-minute stretch of the third quarter and the Vikings turned the game into a rout with four three-pointers.

Rachel Hinchman scored nine points off the bench for Geneva and Katelyn Allen had eight points.

"We got some good efforts from our bench," Nolan said. "Rachel had a good game coming off the bench.

"It was good to see. We got to rest some people in the fourth quarter and that should help considering we're going to play again (tonight)."

St. Charles East's Paige Jordan had matched Santos' 19 points, but was held to six in the second half. Amanda Hilton and Laney Deckrow had seven points each for the Saints (11-18).

The Saints won seven of their final 14 games after starting 4-11. Three of their losses were routs at the hands of Geneva.

"We knew it was going to be a learning year, a rebuilding year, and it was," Drumtra said. "We had a good second half.

"We have a lot of the kids back going forward."

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