Girls Basketball notes: St. Charles North sophomore Reagan Sipla shows growth in loss

St. Charles North coach Mike Tomczak made an observation to his assistant, Grant Oler, after a few choreographed sets for Regan Sipla didn’t finish with points to start the game against Batavia last week.

Sipla, a St. Charles North sophomore, started off an uncharacteristic 1-for-4 from the field in the North Stars’ eventual 54-47 loss to Batavia.

But she later shot a perfect 3-for-3 in the second quarter.

“Reagan had a slow start,” Tomczak said. “We had a couple sets to start the game for her. They didn’t go the way we wanted them to go…I said to Grant during the game: ‘Reagan is playing with a lot more maturity tonight. She’s growing. She’s getting better.’”

Sipla ultimately finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Her impact, though, evidently goes beyond two basic basketball statistics, whether in defensive rotations, affecting passing lanes or overall communication on the court.

“Maybe a month ago, a slow start, [her finished output isn’t] happening tonight,” Tomczak said after the game. “But, today, she rebounded and did a nice job.”

Zosia Wrobel, Geneva ball pressure seal win

For approximately 45 regulation seconds Monday, if not longer, Geneva wouldn’t relent in its ball pressure.

With under two minutes to go and nursing a three-point lead in Geneva’s eventual 42-37 victory over Lake Zurich at Batavia’s MLK showdown on Monday, the Vikings swarmed on defense and did not allow a shot, forcing the Bears to call a timeout.

“That’s what we talked about in the timeout: You’ve got to do that for 30 more seconds because you just did it for a minute and forced a timeout,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “You need one stop, and then, I like our chances going to the free throw line.”

Zosia Wrobel later came down with a monumental rebound out of the break and Geneva (15-4, 7-0) closed the game at the free throw line.

“I thought our kids executed pretty well down the stretch,” Meadows said. “[Wrobel] just played super tough tonight. She brings it. It’s her senior year. She’s going all out and she played really tough physically.”

Cassidy Arni led with 12 points for the Vikings, while Lauren Slagle had 10 points. Wrobel had seven.

Batavia’s Kylee Gehrt coming into her own

Kylee Gerht’s shooting ability is already being established on a nightly basis, but rebounding and defensive pressure is quickly rising up the list of standout areas of play for the Batavia sophomore.

Gehrt had five points and four rebounds in Batavia’s 63-55 loss to Lyons Township on Monday. Gehrt also had the responsibility for chasing down a variety of Lions defensively.

Gehrt, clearly, isn’t just a shooter.

“No, and it’s a quick turnaround after Saturday and we talked about [as coaches] maybe doing a walkthrough or a practice on Sunday,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “We [needed] a day off more than we needed that.”

Batavia had a quick scouting report on the Lions before their Monday game.

“Kylee, you’ve got so-and-so,” Jensen said. “What do you think it says underneath there [below the individual’s name]? Best player, because that’s who you guard. You guard everybody’s best player and she’s coming into her own.”