Donahue, Naperville Central make it four straight
Naperville Central had to earn every point Thursday night to earn a share of the DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball championship for a fourth consecutive season.
Senior Emma Donahue had 30 points as the Redhawks held off the sharpshooting West Chicago Wildcats 62-61 at West Chicago. The Wildcats made sure Naperville Central worked for something that gave Donahue a leg up on Redhawks legend Candace Parker.
"(Coach Andy) Nussbaum told me after my freshman year that it's the one thing Candace Parker never did," Donahue said. "It was my goal the whole time to get those conference championships. It feels good."
"Emma Donahue becomes the third player ever to become a four-time conference champion," Nussbaum said. "But we needed every single point. Their kids were hitting the shots."
The Redhawks (19-8, 13-1) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead thanks to 6 points coming off of turnovers. Donahue accounted for 8 of the 12 first-quarter points as Naperville Central allowed only a 3-pointer in the first quarter.
West Chicago (14-12, 6-8) put up more points on its next two shots than it did in the entire first quarter and they were hardly finished. Senior Allie Tapanes drilled two buckets for 5 points and ended with 7 in the quarter. Senior Liz Reyes pulled the Wildcats within 3 after a bucket, but Naperville Central would keep the pesky Wildcats at bay, going on a 9-4 run to end the quarter and enjoy a 29-21 halftime lead. But the Redhawks soon found the Wildcats were going to give them a run.
"We have not been playing very well," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "We needed this to get our confidence going. But we gain a lot of confidence as we prepare and get ready for the second season. We're excited about our opportunities."
After trading early baskets, the Redhawks and Wildcats traded 3-pointers in a 2 minute stretch, and at one point, traded shots beyond the arc 5 consecutive times. The Wildcats, in fact, sunk their first 7 consecutive 3-point shots. The sniping would end with West Chicago draining 10 out of its 15 3-point attempts for the game. Yet heading into the 4th quarter, the Wildcats trailed 50-44.
"We settled down a little bit," Wallner said. "That's to be expected. That team can be intimidating. But I'm proud of my girls."
The Wildcats' Claire Monroe drilled a 3 as time expired, ending the contest at 62-61. The close game gave a thrilling send off for West Chicago's seniors on home court and provided the Redhawks with their ninth conference title since 2000.
"This game was emblematic of this team. We haven't ever been extremely artistic, but we do just enough to get the job done," Nussbaum said.