Ondik, Naperville Central hold off Waubonsie Valley
Raked across the face by a Waubonsie Valley defender in the second quarter, Emma Ondik had to blink for a minute to regain her sight.
"I couldn't open my eyes for a couple minutes," said the Naperville Central junior point guard. "It was a little foggy at first."
Her vision was 20/20 when it mattered.
Ondik scored the No. 5 Redhawks' last 11 points - going 9 of 10 at the free throw line - in a 44-41 win over No. 6 Waubonsie Valley on Saturday in Naperville.
After Waubonsie's Becky Williford hit a 3-pointer to put the Warriors ahead 41-40 with 29.5 seconds left, Ondik was fouled on a drive and calmly knocked down both free throws. A Tanysha Walls runner in the lane rimmed out, and Ondik hit 2 more free throws with 2.9 ticks left. She finished with 15 points.
"When we need somebody at the line," said Ondik, a 70-plus percent foul shooter as a sophomore, "I think we like to get the ball in my hands. I like having the pressure on me."
Intensity wasn't lacking in a physical matchup pitting District 203/204 unbeatens. The pace no doubt was to Naperville Central's liking.
Starting out in a 1-3-1 zone and later switching to diamond-in-one and box-in-one shadowing Waubonsie shooter Tami Morice, the Redhawks took an 18-10 lead into halftime. Waubonsie came in averaging 59.3 points per game. Morice attempted just 4 shots all game. Waubonsie shot 4 of 23 in the first half.
Naperville Central pushed its lead to 27-18 with 2:27 left in the third quarter on a Claire Fleming free throw, but Waubonsie answered with an 11-2 run, tying the game at 29-29 on a Morice three-point play off a Redhawks turnover.
"We felt like Morice is a shooter," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said, "and we wanted to take that away. Their other girls' game, whether you're talking about (Keiera) Ray or Walls is they want to go around you - and they're pretty good at it. We were trying to restrict their space.
"We said we want our hand on the throttle, as far as the tempo of the game. I felt our girls bought into that and executed."
Waubonsie players admitted it was the first time that they've faced exclusively zone. The Warriors missed their first 14 3-point attempts until Williford's trifecta with 1:15 left in the game pulled them within 39-38.
Williford scored 14 points for Waubonsie (7-1). Rachael Ross added 8, while Ray was held to 6 points with 11 rebounds before fouling out.
"It's definitely a learning experience," Williford said. "It took a lot of time to adjust to their defense. We thought they'd switch it up, but they never did."
Fleming had 9 points and Catherine Tanck 12 rebounds for Naperville Central (9-0), now 6-0 in games decided by 6 points or fewer. A stark contrast to a season ago, when the Redhawks started 8-9. Another disparity - the Redhawks made 24 of 31 free throws, while Waubonsie made just 5 of 8.
"Last year we lost a couple close games," Ondik said, "but this year we seem to be keeping our composure at the end of games and we're pulling them out."