Neuqua Valley 3-point shots doom Naperville North
Threes came in bunches of threes for Neuqua Valley on Tuesday against visiting Naperville North.
Junior guard Megan Keefer busted the Huskies' 2-3 zone with three early 3-pointers and senior Kai Moon hit a trio of 3-pointers midway through the second half as the Wildcats kept their DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball title hopes alive with a 62-46 victory.
Keefer's third 3-pointer of the first quarter with a little more than a minute remaining staked Neuqua Valley (13-4, 7-1) to a 16-8 lead.
"We need to get someone hot at the beginning so we can take their defense of its flow," said Keefer, who had 4 steals to go along with her 9 points. "It's important for at least one of us to get hot. I guess it was my game."
But after Naperville North (8-6, 2-4) pulled to within 38-32 on a basket by Sophia Fumagalli with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter, the Wildcats turned to Moon to keep the Huskies at bay. The 5-foot-6 guard scored 7 points in a span of 90 seconds, including a 4-point play, to spark a 14-3 run.
"We have to find within ourselves that drive, that passion, that want-to," said Moon, who led Neuqua Valley with 20 points. "Whether we're up 2 or 6 or 15 points, we have to make sure we maintain that same energy because that can be really demoralizing for a team when you go on a run."
Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams liked how his team moved the ball against Naperville North's zone.
"You see some teams that get stagnant on offense and just hang around and play 1-on-1," he said. "There's no movement. Nobody has to play defense. But once you start moving and cutting and getting the ball inside and kicking it out …
"I thought we were very patient. We passed up some open shots to get some better shots. I think that's a key. We're not very big. We're going to have to stay disciplined and play smart and do some other things. We're in good shape. I like where we're at."
Sophomore Megan Callahan added 9 points for Neuqua Valley and Myia Starks and Courtlynn Smith both had 6. Six-foot-4 sophomore Sadie Jurkovic and Fumagalli both had 14 points for Naperville North.
"We had 20 turnovers again tonight," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. "That's been a problem. It's very frustrating. You got a give credit to Neuqua Valley and all the teams that have beaten us, but we're also making it pretty easy for them because we're turning the ball over at alarming rate.
"That my fault, not the girls' fault. I have to get it corrected. We're going to keep working hard. Sophia was a big lift for us tonight and Sadie is really coming into her own. We're doing some good things. We just have to defend better, quit turning the ball over and score little bit more and we'll be OK."