West Aurora tops Naperville North in OT thriller

Anyone who's seen West Aurora much the last couple years knows that Kiara Towles can get up and down the floor and knows how to come down with more than her share of rebounds.

The question Thursday night at Naperville North was just how long could she keep it up. The answer was just long enough, as the senior scored 8 of her game-high 38 points in overtime of the Blackhawks' thrilling 80-74 defeat of the Huskies in DuPage Valley Conference action in Naperville.

"I'm very tired. I'm going to go home and crash," said Towles, who added 16 rebounds to her spectacular evening as the Blackhawks improved to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the DVC. "It was very exhilarating. I had to do it for my teammates."

Towles received plenty of support from her teammates, but when forward Devin Vaughn fouled out in the fourth quarter after tallying 23 points, more of a burden fell onto the shoulders of Towles, who opened the OT scoring with a pair of free throws following one of her 9 offensive boards in the game.

For the hosts, a number of Huskies came up big on offense, but they just didn't have an answer for Towles down low.

"We couldn't stop her," Naperville North coach Jacquie Discipio said. "We tried man, we tried zones and we tried to double down on her. We just could not match her."

Naperville North, meanwhile, put together two of its highest scoring halves this season, building a 34-27 lead at the half behind 9 points from Zoe Swift, then having regulation come to a close with the score tied 70-70. Bria Walker busted out with four 3-pointers in the second half on her way to a team-high 19 points, but three other Huskies also scored in double figures.

But in the end Towles and Vaughn were just too much. Vaughn picked up third foul early in the second quarter and had just 5 points at the break, but she consistently drove hard to the basket in the second half and also nailed a pair of 3s while scoring 18 points over the third and fourth quarters.

West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl couldn't say enough about Towles' play, but was equally impressed with the performance of her entire team.

"Oh my God, I don't know what I can say. I love her," she said while hugging her star player. "Kiara is really just special and we knew they couldn't stop her. But as a team the effort is something we've talked about and it came through tonight."

The Blackhawks closed to within 53-51 with a 24-point third quarter and then led 70-68 before a pair of Emily Koch free throws for Naperville North tied the score at 70 with 13.5 seconds left in regulation. Towles took over from there, making 6 of 7 free throws and adding a basket in the extra period.