Redhawks miss chances
The opportunities were there Friday night for the Naperville Central girls basketball team to steal a victory.
But the Redhawks failed to score in the final 3:22 as Johnsburg held on to beat Naperville Central 49-47 in the first round of the 26th annual Charger Classic in Carpentersville.
"Hard to win when you don't score in the last 3:22," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "We had chances."
The Redhawks (5-6) will play Regina Dominican at 2 p.m. Saturday; the Skyhawks (8-4) advance to play St. Charles North at 8 p.m.
Naperville Central rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to cut it to 1, scoring the first 7 points - 6 from Kelley Hendrick - of the fourth quarter. Johnsburg increased the lead back to 5 with five minutes remaining after Melissa Dixon, who led the Skyhawks with 15 points, hit a free-throw line jumper.
Redhawks sophomore Emma Ondik hit a 3-pointer with 4:23 left to make it a 2-point game, but that would be the last field goal for Naperville Central.
Two free throws from Hendrick with 3:58 to go tied the game at 45-45. Dixon gave the Skyhawks the lead again, 47-45, 15 seconds later. Ondik connected on two free throws with 3:22 to tie the game. That would be the Redhawks' final points.
Dixon hit one free throw with 2:40 remaining and another with 4.6 seconds left for the Skyhawks. In the final 2 1/2 minutes Naperville Central missed three free throws, committed two turnovers and could not get a final shot off in the final seconds after Dixon's final free throw.
"It's so frustrating," Nussbaum said. "We've lost six games by a total of 21 points. I don't know what it is. We've got to finish games."
The Skyhawks scored the first 12 points and led 17-7 after the first quarter. The Redhawks missed their first nine shots and went 3 of 15 from the field in the opening eight minutes. Johnsburg extended the lead to 17 midway through the second quarter before Naperville Central began chipping away.
"We talked about coming out and hitting them in the face with a lot of intensity," said Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint, whose team was coming off a 81-18 loss to Marian Catholic.
Hendrick finished with a game-high 16 points, 14 in the second half. Ondik added 12 point and Claire Fleming, in her first game in more than three weeks, had 10 off the bench.