Naperville Central manages OT win

Winning ugly is still winning.

Just ask the Naperville Central girls basketball team.

“We didn't put on a hall of fame performance, that's for sure,” said Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum. “But at the same time we won't turn down a win.”

Naperville Central had to go overtime to get it done Monday, outlasting Mother McAuley, 36-30, in the opening round of the 28th annual Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown.

The Redhawks (8-4) will battle Fenwick at 5 p.m. Tuesday in a quarterfinal matchup of programs that have played each other numerous times for the D-C title.

But had it not been for Emma Ondik's free-throw accuracy, Naperville Central may have been sent to the consolation bracket.

Not only did Ondik nail two pressure free throws with 6 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime, she then scored 5 points in overtime — 3 from the line — as the Redhawks were able to put aside a rusty performance and move on.

“It's hard,” Nussbaum said. “We hadn't played in nine days and (McAuley) in 10 days and it showed.”

And how. The Redhawks fell behind 17-10 at halftime as the teams combined to make just 9 of 36 shots from the field. And late in the third quarter, Naperville Central still trailed 21-14 when Nussbaum had seen enough.

“I called time out and just said ‘If you want to play at 9:30 (a.m. Tuesday), well, then, OK,” he said. “That seemed to sink in.”

Something did. The Redhawks came out of that time out and went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 21 on an Ondik basket with 52 seconds left in the third.

From there, the separation between the teams was never more than 2 points, although it took Ondik's basket with 1:49 left in the extra session to give the Redhawks their first lead since 2-0. They held McAuley (5-6) to just 1 point in overtime and used Ondik's free-throw accuracy, as well as 2 free throws from Emma Donahue, to win the game.

“I've been in a lot of pressure situations like that in my life and I'm used to hitting them,” said Ondik, who led the Redhawks with 15 points. “Maybe it was just the holidays but we didn't seem like we came out ready to play. It was a pretty ugly game.”

Naperville Central finished shooting 12 of 41 but McAuley was worse, going 7-for-47. Donahue added 6 points and 12 rebounds for the Redhawks and Jill D'Amico had 8 points. Molly Stasaitis had 13 points for McAuley, which will face Regina Dominican at 11 a.m. today.

“That's who we wanted at the line,” said Nussbaum of Ondik. “When it came down to it Emma came through like she usually does.”