Wheaton North continues second-half surge, beats St. Charles North for regional title

ST. CHARLES – Wheaton North‘s girls basketball team has proved throughout the course of the season the importance of patience.

While a 1-9 start admittedly tested some wills, the Falcons stayed the course, and turned their season around, winning 18 of their last 23 games.

Now, they can call themselves Class 4A regional champions for the first time since 2022 following Thursday night’s 52-45 victory over third-seeded host St. Charles North (23-9).

“We had a rough start this year,” said senior guard Sara Abdul, who led all players with 23 points, six steals, and five assists, while winning her second regional title. “We stayed patient.”

After splitting two games with the North Stars during the regular season, the sixth-seeded Falcons (19-14) came out firing, making their first five field-goal attempts, including 3-pointers from senior Anna Leicht, Abdul, and sophomore Adeline Sutton — the latter making it 14-2 just three minutes into play.

Wheaton North, which led 17-10 after one quarter, stretched the lead to 25-10 on a layup by Brigitte Noyes, who scored eight points, early in the second quarter.

The North Stars pulled within 28-20 at the half, thanks to a 3-pointer from Lelanie Posada, a layup by Hannah Ganser, and Bronwyn How’s inside bucket.

“By our count, we missed seven layups in the first half,” North Stars coach Mike Tomczak said. “But we were still right there, down by eight.”

That changed in the third quarter, as the Falcons’ full-court pressure fueled an early 8-0 run.

Sutton’s 3-pointer and Abdul’s steal and layup extended the margin to 36-20 with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter.

“Our defense was all over the place in the first half and into that third quarter,” said Falcons coach Tyler Bantz, whose team will face Batavia (23-9) in Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinals at St. Charles East.

“We caused some issues, and we got steals. We forced them into some tough shots.”

Forcing 10 third-quarter turnovers, the Falcons outscored the North Stars 16-8 while building a 44-28 advantage.

“We wanted to force them into some tough shots and force them to go to the basket and make decisions off the dribble,” said Bantz.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Falcons executed to near perfection.

Led by Abdul’s four 3-pointers, the visitors connected on 8 of their first 11 3-pointers through three quarters, while making 15 of 25 field-goal attempts .

“You look good when you’re making threes,” Bantz said.

Trailing 51-39 with 53 seconds remaining, the North Stars made things interesting down the stretch.

Three-pointers from Sydney Johnson (9 points) and Ganser (6 points) whittled the gap to 51-45 with 33 seconds left, but a subsequent 3-point attempt misfired and the North Stars ran out of time.

“Those last 6 ½ minutes seemed so long,” said Bantz.

Riley Barber paced the North Stars with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals, while Posada added 10 points.

“We came out flat to start the game,” said Tomczak. “You must give them a ton of credit.

“We didn’t play our best game today. I thought we showed our youth. My heart breaks for Hannah (Ganser) — she’s our only senior, but we are a young group. Going into the season, we weren’t sure what to expect since we graduated four seniors.

“I’m super proud of the girls. It was my privilege to have been a part of it.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250220/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-wheaton-norths-second-half-surge-continues-with-regional-win-over-st-charles-nor/