Bartlett's zone zaps St. Charles

The St. Charles East girls basketball team entered Friday night's Upstate Eight Conference matchup at Bartlett riding a four-game winning streak.

That momentum carried them to a quick 9-0 lead.

But Bartlett's second-quarter defensive stance stunned the Saints, and the Hawks went on to capture a 68-52 victory and extend their own winning streak to three straight - while handing the Saints their first conference loss of the season.

Trailing 19-16 after the first eight minutes, Bartlett held St. Charles East to a combined 14 points in the second and third quarters - and the Hawks scored 36 points of their own to take a 52-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

"We had a slow start defensively," said the Hawks' Becca Cronin. "Once we picked it up on defense, our offense followed."

Cronin led all scorers with 16 points, including a pair from behind the arc.

"I was hitting my shots and felt good shooting from all over the field," Cronin said. "Overall, it was a great team effort."

Ashley Santos got the Hawks (9-7, 2-2) going, accounting for half of the team's 16 first-quarter points. She finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

While Bartlett dished off a team-high in assists and outrebounded the Saints 35-24, the Hawks' shift to a zone defense in the second quarter started the turnaround.

"We are really excited about our defense," said Hawks coach Denise Sarna. "We now have the capability to go to a zone, I saw the moment to do that, and we went with it. It was a good night. The girls battled hard."

The Saints scored early and often, with four players contributing out of the gate.

Jaime Rust and Natasha Lalos each scored 15 points, and Lalos hit five 3-pointers.

"We had a nice first quarter, but we let Bartlett back in the game," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra. "They went to a zone defense and shut us down. It threw us off."

With 10 turnovers in the third quarter, the Saints (10-5, 3-1) managed just a pair of rebounds in the final 20 seconds of the quarter.

"I tip my hat to Bartlett," said Drumtra. "At times they weren't missing any shots. They played excellent all-around. I am pleased with the effort our girls gave. They played very hard."

Saints center Kara Schnier was solid inside and scored 10 points, but the Hawks' Jacki Gulczynski countered with 15 points and 8 rebounds.

"We played really well tonight," Sarna said. "The girls did a nice job sharing the ball, which showed me how well they are playing as a team. We were able to use a lot of different players. Despite a slow start, we played very poised throughout."

Reaching the highest tally against the Saints to date with 68 points, the Hawks got 15 points from their bench - including 7 by Nicole Gutzwiller.

The Saints' Lexi Baltes came off the bench to score 8 points.