Naperville Central earns 20th win

Naperville Central's girls basketball team formulated two goals at the beginning of the season: win 20 games and capture the DuPage Valley Conference crown.

The Redhawks accomplished the first Thursday night at Glenbard East, defeating the Rams 53-35. They'll attempt to take a big step toward the second in their next conference tilt, next Thursday at Wheaton North.

Naperville Central continued its strong play away from home Thursday night, never falling behind Glenbard East while snaring a quick 12-2 first-quarter advantage.

The lead only swelled further as the Redhawks (20-4, 9-2) led 15-6 after one quarter and 32-11 with 1:57 to play before halftime.

"I liked our intensity in the first 15 minutes, the way we attacked the game, and really I thought we played well in the second half too," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "We're playing good team basketball. The girls are doing a good of passing it around and finding open players."

"We just came out strong. We were pumped up in the locker room, and as soon as we stepped out onto the court we were ready to play," sophomore guard Jill D'Amico said. "We knew that we had to win this game in order to have a chance at winning the DVC, so we just came out strong."

D'Amico registered 12 points and 5 steals for Naperville Central, including a second-quarter 3 to push the visitors' lead to 22-8. The 5-foot-5 D'Amico has steadily helped the Redhawks continue progressing without injured senior forward Catherine Tanck.

"I bring in the drive-and-dish, and I connect with (center) Emma Donahue a lot," D'Amico said. "Also probably more steals on defense."

Glenbard East (8-14, 1-8) briefly battled back after an Emma Ondik basket gave the Redhawks a 32-11 lead. The Rams scored 9 straight points to cut the deficit to 12 but couldn't inch any closer.

"We got within - a couple possessions down, and we had a chance but they pulled away and scored two easy baskets on us," Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller said. "I think we came out flat against them, and we definitely could have played better defense."

Naperville Central knows it must eliminate intensity lapses in order to challenge Wheaton North for the conference title.

"A lot of times when we get up on teams, we drop the intensity down because we feel comfortable where we're at," D'Amico said. "We can't let the intensity down and we have to stay strong the whole game."