First time for everything: Naperville Central comes up short

The Johnsburg girls basketball team didn't care if Naperville Central came into Monday night's game unbeaten.

It just cared that the Redhawks weren't leaving that way.

The Skyhawks handed Naperville Central its first loss of the season, beating the Redhawks 59-45 in the quarterfinals of the 27th annual Charger Classic in Carpentersville.

"We've never made it to the final four of this tournament," Johnsburg senior Danielle slivka said. "Every game we go out knowing that if we work together and play hard we can win."

The victory was the sixth straight for Johnsburg (11-3) and sent the Skyhawks into the semifinals. They will face New Trier (12-2) at 8 p.m. today. The Redhawks (12-1) play Bartlett (9-5) at 5 p.m. with a place in the fifth-place game on the line.

The Redhawks struggled throughout and never led. They shot 5-for-22 (23 percent) in the first half and trailed 18-12 at halftime. Naperville Central had the deficit down to 1, 11-10, midway through the second quarter, but failed to take advantage of the Skyhawks not scoring until 3:03 left in the quarter on Melissa Dixon's 3-point play.

"We missed a lot of shots in the first half," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "Three 3s rimmed out. Couple of shots under the basket didn't go in. It was not a very good night at all."

Slivka scored 8 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter to help Johnsburg increase its lead to 38-20 entering the fourth.

The Redhawks couldn't get any closer than 9, at 45-36, in the fourth.

Dixon added 20 points for the Skyhawks. Slivka added 8 rebounds. Megan Lopez had 8 points.

Claire Fleming led Naperville Central with 15 points. Catherine Tanck and Emma Donahue each added 10 points. Donahue also had 9 rebounds.