Naperville Central's Donahue blocks West Chicago's path
With her team on the brink of a fourth-quarter fold, Emma Donahue showed the wingspan of a 6-foot-3 center and the poise of a seasoned veteran.
Naperville Central's sophomore hit 4 free throws and blocked 2 shots in the final minute of the Redhawks' 48-46 win over West Chicago in Naperville.
Both times Donahue broke ties with her free throws after West Chicago had stormed back from 14 down in the final quarter.
"How about 4 free throws in a row for a kid that's 6-3?" said Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum. "She was huge tonight. We probably should do a better job protecting the lead, but the result is nice."
West Chicago (12-5, 4-1 DuPage Valley Conference), down 39-24 in the third quarter and 40-26 heading into the fourth, came all the way back to tie it at 44-44 on a pair of Katie Staiton free throws with 1:06 left. Donahue promptly hit 2 free throws to give Naperville Central (15-3, 5-1) back the lead. She made 2 more after a Jessica Baids score tied it.
In the final 28 seconds Donahue rejected a pair of Staiton layup attempts for the tie. A desperate West Chicago 3-point heave fell short as time expired. Naperville Central didn't make a field goal in the fourth quarter but hit 8 of its first 9 free throws.
"You just have to zero in on the basket," Donahue said, "and go in your happy place."
Naperville Central's win forges a three-way tie for the conference lead and snapped the Wildcats' five-game winning streak.
"We still want to win conference," Donahue said. "Them coming in with no losses in conference and us with one, we had a lot of pressure to win this game."
Naperville Central jumped out to an 11-point lead early, only to see West Chicago pull within 22-21 at half. The Redhawks seemingly took control again in the third quarter, hitting West Chicago with a barrage of 3-pointers. Emma Ondik, who scored 19 points, hit 3 of her 5 trifectas in the quarter and Claire Fleming made a 3-pointer.
"I did not think we came with the intensity level defensively for all four quarters that we need to have against this team," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "We lost the game in the third quarter."
An Ondik 3-pointer gave Naperville Central its biggest lead, 39-24 with 1:41 left.
"We got her shots," Nussbaum said. "There's no one we want shooting more than her."
In addition to her spot-on shooting, Ondik shadowed West Chicago leading scorer Claire Monroe to the tune of 1-of-10 shooting and 3 points. Monroe came in averaging 11.4 points a game.
"We knew she was a shooter and one of their scorers," Ondik said. "We wanted to give no help on her, stay in her shirt and not let her get any looks."
While Monroe struggled, West Chicago's bench played big throughout. Mary Connolly had 12 points and 9 rebounds, Jordan Nickelson had 7 points and Liz Reyes scored 4 key points during the fourth-quarter comeback. Baids also scored 12 points.
"It's good to see," Wallner said. "That's what is great about this team. We are not one- or two-dimensional. I got great bench help tonight. That's what kept us in it."