Huntley stifles Naperville North turnaround

For a team coming off a five-win season, it's nice to prove you can survive a really bad first quarter and rebound to take the lead.

But for Naperville North's girls basketball team, that turnaround and some solid play in the second and third quarters was not enough Saturday afternoon in Aurora. The Huskies, who won their opener earlier in the week with Neuqua Valley, lost to Huntley 58-52 at Waubonsie Valley in the Lady Warhawk Thanksgiving tourney and weren't feeling too thankful for any moral victories.

Despite 8 turnovers and no field goals in the first quarter, Naperville North (1-1) rebounded to take a 32-26 lead following an inside bucket from Emily Koch with 4:24 left in the third quarter. But some missed free throws in the fourth quarter, coupled with some timely 3-pointers from the Red Raiders (2-0), eventually did in the Huskies.

"The second and third quarters were the best, but our bookends weren't so good," said Huskies coach Jacquie Discipio, whose team was without guard Shannon Bushman, who injured an ankle in the opener. "We had a terrible start. We were very slow on offense and we struggled to cut and get open."

The Red Raiders stormed ahead 15-2 as Carly Goede and Katherine Lowery each connected on 3-pointers while the Huskies went 0 of 4 from the floor in the quarter but managed to close to within 15-6 by nailing 6 of 6 foul shots. With guard Zoe Swift scoring 7 points, the Huskies then used an 18-6 run in the second quarter to take a 24-21 lead at the half.

Koch and Colleen Warren each tallied 5 points in the first half, and Koch also pulled in 6 of her team-high 11 rebounds in the first two quarters.

"We were frustrated in the beginning, but we kind of pushed through it," said Koch, who finished with 14 points and was 7 of 9 from the foul line. "We were communicating well and working well together in the second and third quarters, but we got a little confused with our communication at the end. We just need to finish better."

Goede and Cecilia Tsevas each dropped in 3s as Huntley drew even at 38-38 after three quarters, then the Red Raiders answered a clutch 3-pointer by the Huskies' Bria Walker early in the fourth with some timely shots of their own.

Lowery recorded her second 3-pointer to put Huntley on top 43-41 midway through the fourth, then Brianna Roeser's 3 put the Red Raiders on top for good at 48-45 with 2:22 left to play.

Emily Carpenter helped the Huskies keep hope with a late long-range shot of her own, but in the end too many missed free throws cost Naperville North, which shot 20 of 36 from the line in the game.

"In the first half free throws kept us alive," Discipio said."But free throws in the second half cost us the game."

Goede paced Huntley with 15 points and teammate Amanda Wisniewski had 11 boards off the bench, while Swift joined Koch in double figured for Naperville North with 13 points and 2 steals. Bukky Adesanya, a 6-foot junior, blocked 3 shots for the Huskies.