Wheaton North's effort pays off

The sharpness may have been lacking, but the bodies were sure willing.

Any DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball game you watch figures to be hard-fought, and Wheaton North (11-5, 4-1) and Glenbard East (10-5, 2-3) gave fans their money's worth of effort in Wheaton on Thursday.

The Falcons pulled off a 49-42 win thanks to a steal from Lauren Hoffman with just more than a minute to play and late free throws from Brooke Olson and Madison Goudy that iced it.

Three pivotal baskets in the fourth quarter from Lauren Graham also helped lift the Falcons to victory in their first game back since Christmas break.

"You could tell that both teams hadn't played in a while," said Falcons coach David Eaton. "It wasn't the prettiest game, but we worked back into it.

"Glenbard East is so well-coached, and it's going to be a battle every time against them. We knew coming in it would be physical."

The Rams got another pair of steady performances from Kelsey Taylor and Olivia Trefilek, who led their squad with 18 and 10 points, respectively, and came up big during a fourth-quarter rally from the Rams.

"I think both teams put all they had out on the floor," Taylor said. "We knew it would be a tough game."

Wheaton North led 22-19 at halftime and 32-27 after three quarters. With her Rams trailing 36-29 on a Hoffman runner in the lane early in the fourth, Miller called a timeout.

The Rams followed with an 8-0 offensive run that gave them the lead.

"I told them that we had to make a run," Miller said, "and they responded really well."

Graham scored twice and the Rams got a basket from Taylor and a 3-pointer from Jamie Klepetka, before Goudy tied the score.

A Graham basket in the post gave the Falcons a 44-42 lead, and a Glenbard East timeout set up a Rams' inbounds play. Hoffman intercepted the pass near halfcourt.

"Hoffman has been clutch all year," Eaton said. "She is really having a great year."

"Sometimes it just takes a small thing like that to spark us," Hoffman said. "We just needed a push."

Goudy and Paige Fowler scored 10 points apiece, and Eaton applauded the play of A.K. Feltes, Cass Yankala and his entire bench. Miller was also happy with her squad's effort.

"I really thought we put it out there, and it came down to who was going to execute at the end," Miller said. "It's the little things in a game like this that make the difference, and they took care of business."