Girls Basketball: Schaumburg puts away St Charles East on free-throw line

Updated: February 14, 2012 11:26PM

Schaumburg sophomore reserve guard Laramie Madison calmly stood at the foul line Tuesday with the game on the line as if she does it every day, and drained consecutive free throws with her team protecting a one-point lead and 38 seconds remaining.

Why should she be any different than her starting Saxon teammates? Schaumburg was clutch at the foul line and down the stretch in every aspect while St. Charles East missed 6-of-8 fourth-quarter free throws and the Saxons came away with a 51-45 victory in the semifinals of the Bartlett Class 4A Regional.

“I think my coach trusts me to shoot free throws like that,” Madison said. “With free throws, I know it’s an important part of the game and we needed to make the shots, so I willed it in.”

Madison’s only two points of the night gave the Saxons a 48-45 lead, and after Paige Jordan missed a three-pointer for St. Charles East, Amanda Kelly made a big free throw, and teammate Riley Williams knocked down two more following a Saints turnover to lock up a win that puts the Saxons (15-13) in Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. finals against the top-seeded and once-beaten host team.

“We know it’s the state tournament, and that free throws, defense, and rebounding count when it comes down to it,” Saxons coach Ashley Berggren said. “We haven’t been the best free throw shooting team this past season, but tonight we came through.”

Kelly scored a team-high 16 points, Alyssa Saklak had 11, and the Saxons made 8-of-12 from the foul line in the fourth quarter of a back-and-forth, frantic, physical contest.

Amanda Hilton had 12 points and Paige Jordan a team-high 16 for the Saints (14-13), but the missed foul shots, 2-of-9 fourth-quarter shooting from the field, and turning the ball over four straight times after they owned a 44-40 lead with 3:55 left all combined to end St. Charles East’s season.

“We didn’t finish,” Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. “We had some mental lapses at the end there, got a little bit careless with the ball and allowed them to get some steals and get some possessions.”

A Saklak layup with 1:10 left put the Saxons ahead for good, 46-45, before Morgan Vyzral missed an outside jumper for the Saints, setting up Madison’s clutch shots.

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