Naperville Central hangs tough in end

There probably isn't an adjective that hasn't been used to describe the athletic rivalry between Naperville Central and Naperville North. It can all sound so cliche at times.

But the cliches were nowhere to be found Thursday night at Naperville Central as the Redhawks and Huskies proved again why this consistently is such a fun rivalry to watch.

The Redhawks prevailed 60-55 to improve to 10-6 overall and 4-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference, and although most conference games are big, Saturday's seems a little larger as Naperville Central travels to Wheaton North.

"We have a string now of four years where we've lost the first game to Wheaton North. Of course, we've won the second," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "But it's a different year. It should be a pretty interesting game."

Against the Huskies (5-11, 2-2), Naperville Central needed every point of its four players scoring in double digits, led by Emma Ondik's game-high 23 points.

With just more than 30 seconds left in the game, Ondik, who was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line, sank two of her seven fourth-quarter free throws to put Naperville Central up 57-46.

Jenna Jatczak who led her team with 15 points, sank a 3-point basket with 25.7 seconds left to make it 57-49. Nine seconds later, Jenna Bushman made good on a three-point play and suddenly it was just 57-52 in favor of Naperville Central.

Ondik proceeded to make three of her next four free throws, including two with 7.7 seconds left to put the Redhawks up 60-52. And yet Naperville North wasn't done. Caitlin Knoll sank her second 3 of the night to close out the scoring as time ran out.

"If we could have had another minute, it could have been different," Naperville North coach Jacquie Discipio. "We won the second half. Naperville Central is always a good team. The girtls fought well through out. We just had a couple bad stretches."

The Redhawks' Jill D'Amico, came off the bench to score 13. Jamie Cuny added 11 points and Emma Donahue 10.

"I was excited to get in," D'Amico said. "The team is always so pumped for this game. They're our biggest rival. We came out and gave it our best."

Naperville Central's height advantage, four players in the starting lineup 6-foot or higher, was again evident.

"We do have that size advantage and it's big enough to cover the space on the outside as well," Nussbaum said.

Naperville North hosts Glenbard East on Saturday.