St. Charles North’s 21 steals leads to 54-16 win over Prairie Ridge in Burlington Central Tournament

BURLINGTON — St. Charles North may look a little different compared to last season, but they made one thing certain in their second game of the season.

Their full court defense is no joke.

Thanks to the pressure, the North Stars picked up 21 steals on the night, leading to a big 54-16 victory over Prairie Ridge in the Burlington Central Tournament on Tuesday.

“I thought we looked pretty sloppy against a pretty physical team in our first game, but we were able to watch some tape and clean some things up,” North Stars coach Mike Tomczak said. “I thought defensively we applied some pressure and got a lot of good deflections.”

Leading the charge in the stealing brigade was junior Sydney Johnson, who finished the game off with seven steals in the game to go alongside 10 points, three assists and two rebounds in the game.

“We knew our defensive pressure wasn’t where we wanted it to be in our first game,” Johnson said. “And then in this game, it was just trying to get that push in there and trying to shut them down in the first half.”

North (2-0) got out of the gates early, putting up 22 points out the gate in the first quarter, thanks in part to three consecutive 3-pointers from junior Lelanie Posada (10 points, two assists, one rebound, one steal).

The North Stars had a scary scene near the end of the first quarter when junior forward Elle Fuhr got hit by an elbow, which forced her to leave the game. The forward had six points in the quarter before her exit.

While Fuhr’s exit was a bit of a blow, it opened up an opportunity for sophomore forward Bronwyn How, who went on to score a team-high 12 points in the game, including 10 in the second quarter.

“Elle and Bronwyn enjoy playing together, they’ve got a nice little connection,” Tomczak said. “They were playig well together. But when Fuhr unfortunately got nicked above her eye, it was more just focus on getting Bronwyn the ball inside. We weren’t seeing a ton of double teams, so she was able to work and get things done down there.”

How also put up five steals, three assists, two rebounds and two blocks in just her second varsity game of the season. How said she wanted to build off of her first varsity game with a great showing in the paint.

“I’ve been working with the coaches a lot in the post and especially during practice and during the summer,” How said. “But I feel like a lot of the success came from my teammates, too, with their great passes.”

Prairie Ridge (0-1) was led by junior Zoe Nanos, who had five points, including the team’s only 3-pointer on the night, to go with two rebounds, two steals and an assist. Senior Bella Militello (four points, seven rebounds) and junior Adella Pollack (four points, three rebounds) were the only other Wolves to score multiple baskets in their first game of the season.

“St. Charles North is a talented program that runs a solid ball press,” Prairie Ridge coach Tim Taege said. “We’re a super young and trying to rebuild, so we’re going to have some struggles early on. But I’m looking forward to watching this group continue to grow, get some experience and start to feel a little more comfortable when they see that kind of pressure.”