Naperville Central defeats Wheaton North

Sometimes a coach calls a timeout at just the right time and the team responds. Other times the right call is to just let the players keep on playing.

Thursday night Naperville Central girls basketball coach Andy Nussbaum fought the urge to call a timeout after his Redhawks fell behind visiting Wheaton North 8-0. Not making the call for a stoppage proved to be the right call, as Naperville Central responded with a 17-0 run into the second quarter and extended that to a 30-9 run for a 30-17 lead at the half.

"There was a part of me that wanted to call a timeout, but I don't want to act like I'm panicking," said Nussbaum, whose team went on to claim the DVC battle 66-42. "Let's just relax here, and I think the girls responded really well."

Freshman Nikki Baird opened the night's scoring with a 3-pointer for Wheaton North (6-11, 3-5) and when baskets by Hannah Swider and Jenna Kortenhoeven were sandwiched around a free throw, it was 8-0 Falcons. But Mia Lakstigala finally got the Redhawks on the board with a driving basket with 4:27 left in the quarter and the home team took off from there.

A 3-pointer from Hannah Swarm put the Redhawks on top 9-8 after one quarter and a 21-point second quarter powered them to a 13-point lead at the half. Strong guard play from Swarm and Lakstigala - who combined to score 38 points - limited Wheaton North's pressure defense and allowed Naperville Central (13-6, 4-1) to take advantage of its size advantage in the paint.

"We didn't put our heads down. We made sure of that," said Lakstigala, who scored a game-high 24 points. "Our main goal was just to get back in the game and keep moving forward."

Falcons coach Dave Eaton loved his team's fast start, but was not has thrilled with how the game turned around quickly. "We wanted to get a lot of pressure on the perimeter and keep them out of the paint and they did the exact thing they wanted to do," Eaton said. "They wanted to get to the paint and utilize their advantage inside. They got inside all day and that exposes a big weakness of ours - we don't have a lot of height."

The speedy Lakstigala managed to cut to the rim for most of her 8 field goals, but the Redhawks also were boosted by a pair of 3s off the bench by Kaylee Cunningham, two 3s from Swarm, and a big edge on the glass. Freshman center Lucy Schmid had all 10 of her rebounds in the first half, with her 6 rebounds on the offensive end helping the Redhawks to many chances.

"They had 14 offensive rebounds at the half. And you're not going to win a lot of games if they're getting numerous chances, especially if they're 4- or 5-foot shot," Eaton said. "I thought their kids did a great job of executing their game plan of boxing out, breaking it down and getting it in the middle, Swarm from the outside spotting up and shooting, and I thought they had kids come off the bench and really help them and give them a big lift."

Not only did Cunningham knock down two key jumpers in the first half, but fellow reserve Erin Moran sparked the team with 5 points, 6 boards even had a timely steal and blocked shot to help hold off the Falcons.

"I was pleased all the way around," Nussbaum said. "Kaylee's 3s were huge in the first half. I thought Moran gave us some good minutes, and I thought Lucy had a pretty good presence on defense along with Katie McBain, who did a good job on Swider."

Swider, a sophomore guard, led the Falcons with 16 points, but she was the lone Wheaton North player to score in double figures.