Naperville North upends Naperville Central
If Naperville North was going to gain the respect it craved, Jacquie Discipio knew the Huskies had to beat an upper-echelon DuPage Valley Conference team.
“Why not Naperville Central?” said the Huskies coach. “Why not shoot for the top?”
The host Huskies got their statement win and shook up the DVC race in the process on Monday, beating No. 10 Naperville Central 69-61.
It's Naperville North's first win over its cross-town rival in seven years.
“One of those nights where everything went our way,” Discipio said. “We've said time and time again that our record doesn't indicate the kind of team we are. We had a good opportunity and in a crosstown game any team can win any night. Tonight was our night.”
Naperville Central (16-8, 8-2 DVC) saw its six-game winning streak snapped, and dropped even in the loss column with Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North.
“We had everything in our control,” Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. “Naperville North is a good basketball team. I knew they were going to beat at least one top team in the conference. I was just hoping it would be somebody else.”
Naperville North (9-13, 6-4) led 43-41 going into the fourth quarter, and it was 50-44 with 6:25 left after Emily Koch's backdoor layup.
The Huskies did a remarkable job playing keepaway on their next possession. Cat-quick point guard Zoe Swift at times dribbled through the entire Redhawks defense, and Naperville North used precise passing and great movement to milk away two minutes of clock.
“We had to run out the clock and be smart,” said Swift, who scored a team-high 17 points with 8 rebounds. “We were jacked up for this game.”
Shannon Ryan's 3-pointer pulled Naperville Central within 50-47, but that's as close as it got.
Naperville North made 17 of 23 free throws in the fourth quarter — and didn't turn it over once with Redhawks defenders fruitlessly chasing and fouling.
Swift made 6 of 6 at one point, and after finally missing a pair Bukky Adesanya was there for a putback basket.
“Zoe's quick. We really didn't have an answer for that,” Nussbaum said.
“When you go 11-for-14 from the free- throw line like she did it makes it easier to hold the ball.”
Naperville North, which scored its season-high in points, had it going early. The Huskies made 10 of their first 14 shots, Caitlin Knoll knocking down three first-half 3-pointers.
Naperville North's biggest first-half lead was 25-18, and it was 28-27 at the break. Naperville Central surged ahead 37-34 on a Jill D'Amico 3-pointer, but Shannon Bushman answered with a tying 3-pointer. Bushman, who scored all 13 of her points in the second half, hit another 3-pointer to push the Huskies ahead for good, 43-41 to end the third.
Emily Carpenter added 10 points and Adesanya 6 rebounds off the bench for the Huskies.
“We're usually the underdogs, the team that has to come back from 3 or 4 points down,” said Bushman, who made 5 of 6 at the line late. “Tonight it was Central and we were going to keep the lead. For once we played a great four quarters of basketball and it means so much.”
Emma Ondik scored 24 points for Naperville Central, which was without Emma Donahue (sick) for the second straight game. Victoria Trowbridge added 15 points and 9 rebounds and D'Amico 16 points.