Redhawks outlast Glenbard North

Glenbard North had hoped to leave Naperville Central with a nice conference win Tuesday. Instead, the Panthers girls basketball team will have to settle for earning some respect.

The host Redhawks (14-5, 5-1) stayed in contention in the DuPage Valley Conference with a 57-50 victory, but not before the pesky Panthers battled them to the wire. Kelley Hendrick led four Redhawks players in double figures with a game-high 20 points, but neither she nor the Redhawks could sustain their red-hot start.

Hendrick tallied 11 points in the first quarter alone as Naperville Central led 21-13 after one quarter and extended the lead to 10 points when Lisa Lawrence added a layup off a feed from Claire Fleming to open the second quarter.

But the Panthers (5-14, 2-4) outscored the hosts 13-6 in the second quarter, trailed just 27-26 at the half, and hung with the Redhawks much of the second half before eventually losing the battle at the free-throw line. The Redhawks made 27 of 38 foul shots while Glenbard North went 11 of 12 from the line, including 8 of 9 from Panthers sophomore Amoni Reynolds who was fouled on three occasions while attempting 3-pointers.

"We came out so strong and then it fell apart in the second quarter," said Hendrick, who was a perfect 7 of 7 from the foul line. "I was so furious. We knew we had to come out strong in the second half, and we kept the pressure on them because we didn't want them to get the lead."

The Redhawks did open the second half with a 6-0 run that included 4 free throws and a basket by Emma Ondik, but Glenbard North trailed just 38-33 after three quarters thanks to strong post play on both ends from Megan Ney and Nicolette Rini, and from Reynolds, who finished with 12 points off the bench.

"That was the thing I liked most out of the game." Glenbard North coach Mark Glenn said of his team's resiliency after the first quarter. "Earlier in the season we might have folded after getting down like that. We didn't tonight, and that was nice to see."

Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum came away impressed with the Panthers' despite their sub par record.

"You have to give a lot of credit to Glenbard," Nussbaum said. "They would not go away. They played well and this is a good win for us."

Lawrence and Ondik each finished with 11 points and Fleming had 10 for the Redhawks, who also picked up 8 rebounds from Jessica Carter. Ney paced the Panthers with 17 points and 7 rebounds, while Rini finished with 8 points and 5 boards.

"It was defense that did it for us at times," said Reynolds, a 5-foot-9 forward. "If we kept it up we could have won tonight. We've improved a lot. If we can shut people down with defense we'll start wining some more games."