To say that senior guard Torrie Kortan was ready for Thursday night’s Class 4A Bartlett Sectional championship game would be an understatement.
Shortly after St. Charles East upset top-seeded Geneva on Tuesday night, Kortan couldn’t hide her excitement of the Saints getting the chance to play Wheaton North.
“Ever since we won the game against Geneva, I went home, I showered, I cleaned my clothes and I had my clothes laid out,” she said. “I was just waiting.”
Kortan was worth the wait, putting on another signature performance. She scored a team-high 21 points, including the eventual game-winner in overtime of a 60-54 victory.
“Every single game she plays better and better,” St. Charles East interim coach Josh Foster said. “Every time I don’t think she can do more, she does more. She guards everybody. She rebounds.
“To me, she’s been the player of the year in the conference, the regional, the sectional. She’s everything for us. She has been great all year long.”
It was the program’s second sectional title and first since 1987. The Saints (22-6) will face Barrington (28-5) at 7 p.m. Monday in the South Elgin Supersectional.
A trip to state will be on the line.
“This means the world,” Kortan said. “We haven’t won since 1987 and we just won. It’s a championship team.
“I wanted to cry when we got the last board. It felt so good.”
Back-to-back layups from Cali Papez to start the fourth quarter gave the Saints a 42-34 lead, the largest of the game.
Wheaton North (22-8), however, managed to claw back and force OT thanks to senior guard Claire Hyde. The two-time DuKane Conference Player of the Year scored 11 of her game-high 31 points down the stretch.
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A 3-pointer from Lindsey Shanahan with 13 seconds left forced a 51-51 tie and sent the game to OT.
“They know where their bread is buttered and they go to her over and over again,” Foster said. “She lets it fly.”
The Saints didn’t let the late rally fluster them, however.
Kortan hit a layup to start OT and St. Charles East never trailed again. Emma Yakey and Hyde traded 3-pointers, but the Saints iced the win with two free throws apiece from sophomores Alexis Maridis and Lexi DiOrio.
“We live for the nail-biters,” Kortan said. “Yakey and Lexi really hit some big shots. Thankfully, they did because I wasn’t making mine.
“Everyone just steps up when they need to. That’s what makes championship teams.”
Wheaton North coach Dave Eaton wanted to slow the game to a crawl, but St. Charles East found a way to force its preferred tempo on the Falcons.
“We knew we had to keep the game in the 30s and 40s,” Eaton said. “They’re so good offensively. They have so many weapons. We just played them on Feb. 8 and it was the same kind of tempo.
“Our whole goal was to not let it get to that tempo. They did a great job.”
Offensively, Foster knew as long as the Saints kept their cool they could do what they needed to do.
“Playing against that zone, we have enough people that can move the ball if we just stayed patient and calm,” Foster said. “I knew we’d get the shots we wanted.”
DiOrio and Papez each finished with 13 points for St. Charles East. Papez had 10 rebounds.
The Saints faced adversity all season, including a long break related to COVID-19 and a midseason coaching change. They’re now one win away from state.
“We’ve been behind the eight ball more than once,” Foster said. “We’ve been doing nothing but making it tough on ourselves.
“The thing is the best journeys are usually the hardest roads. We just love making it a little bit harder and overcoming it.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.