Wheaton North slaps a loss on West Chicago

Wheaton North's players slapped the court in unison, determined to make another defensive stop.

They knew the importance of this game.

No. 20 Wheaton North led from start to finish on Thursday in West Chicago, picking up a key 53-50 win over the No. 16 Wildcats.

Falcons coach Dave Eaton has implored his team of late to play with more passion, and they responded.

"They got us on our home court. Our kids were ready to go tonight," Eaton said. "We've talked all week about playing with heart and playing with passion and play like you enjoy the game. I thought most importantly that our kids showed a lot more heart tonight than they have in the past."

Wheaton North's win leaves the two-time defending DuPage Valley Conference co-champion a game behind Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South, who play Saturday in Wheaton.

West Chicago coach Kim Wallner also noted the significance of the game with sectional seeding next week.

"We knew that this was a crucial game for us in order to further our chances to win conference," said Wheaton North's Maddie Baillie, who scored a team-high 16 points.

Wheaton North (13-6, 6-2) took a 29-21 lead into halftime behind Baillie's 11 first-half points. The lead swelled to 39-28 with three minutes left in the third quarter after Mandy Traversa hit the fourth of her five 3-pointers.

Eaton knew better.

"We knew the whole time it'd be a fight back and forth," he said.

West Chicago junior Allie Tapanes, who had a game-high 19 points, answered Traversa's 3-pointer with one of her own, and the Wildcats pulled within 41-37 by the end of the quarter.

West Chicago (14-6, 5-3) got the margin to 1 once and within 2 points on five more occasions but never could pull even or take the lead.

After Fantasia Vine's two free throws with 44.4 seconds left, Mary Connolly rolled in a runner for West Chicago to make it 52-50. Baillie split two free throws with 4.5 seconds left, and West Chicago failed to get a 3-point shot for the tie off.

"Good comeback by my team. We just fell a little bit short," Wallner said. "We had our chances, we just didn't shoot well. But we had some shots."

Connolly had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Jordan Nickelson 8 points and 8 rebounds for West Chicago, but Wildcats sharpshooter Claire Monroe was held to 4 and went 0 of 8 from 3-point range.

Vine had 10 points for Wheaton North.

Wheaton North, which normally plays exclusively man-to-man, threw in a 2-3 wrinkle that could have thrown off its opponent.

"I think it really messes with the other team sometimes," Baillie said.

"Maybe a little bit," Wallner said, "because I did not expect them to play zone. I haven't seen them play zone too often."