By RYAN ARENA
Sports Editor

Dominique DiCarlo’s basket and steal with under a minute left proved pivotal as St. Charles warded off a furious Reserve Christian comeback on Friday night, leaving the Eagles’ nest with a 48-41 victory.

The Comets led by 12 after three quarters, but the Lady Eagles roared back and cut the lead to two with a minute left.

But DiCarlo hit a shot at the other end to put the Comets back ahead by four. On the ensuing possession, she stole the ball, and the Eagles were forced to foul.

Brooke Becker scored a game high 22 points, and hit five-of-six free throws down the stretch to help seal the win.

“At the end, our older girls stepped up,” said St. Charles Coach Nolan Louque. Dominique’s a junior, Brooke’s a senior. They made the plays when we needed them.”

Jaymie Remondet scored eight for St. Charles (11-10). DiCarlo finished with six.

Daysha Blount led Reserve (4-15) with 18 points. Jermani Thompson scored five.

While the first two meetings between the teams were controlled by the Comets, Reserve allowed nothing to come easy to St. Charles this time. At halftime, the game was tied at 16.

“Give a lot of credit to Reserve Christian. They played very hard,” said Louque.

But the Comets came out in the third quarter with renewed energy, and their trademark press forced some mistakes.

“We picked up the intensity,” said Louque. “We ran our press a little better and got some quick baskets off of it. Everything began to snowball from there.”

The double-digit advantage wouldn’t hold up, though. Soon, momentum belonged to the Eagles.

“We tried to stall while up 12,” said Louque. “They pressured the ball, and started hitting their shots. They did the same thing to us in the fourth that we did to them in the third.”

But for the third time this season, the Comets came away with a victory over the Eagles.