Numbers add up for Wheaton North

It was all about the numbers for the Wheaton North girls basketball team during Tuesday night’s second semifinal at the Class 4A Addison Trail regional.

The sixth-seeded Falcons (13-15) were aiming to play tough defense and keep 11th-seeded Glenbard North’s scoring output as low as possible. Another number on the Falcons’ minds was the two victories the Panthers (11-16) earned in three meetings during the regular season.

The Falcons made sure Glenbard North didn’t get a third win, prevailing 55-39 to advance to Thursday night’s regional final against third-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South. The winner moves on to a Hoffman Estates sectional semifinal next week.

“Of course they were not real happy about that,” said Falcons coach David Eaton about his team’s record against the Panthers.

Going into Tuesday night, the teams last met Feb. 4 on Glenbard North’s senior night with the Panthers winning 45-37.

Eaton was pleased with his team’s offense, but Wheaton North’s defense was crucial to holding the Panthers to 22 points the last three quarters after Glenbard North led 17-13 after the first eight minutes.

“We talked about it all week that we wanted to pick up the defense. We wanted to force them into turnovers. We boxed out well and they did not get all that many second-chance points,” he said.

The Falcons shot 6 of 13 from the field during the second quarter to lead 27-22 at halftime with a 12-6 run to start the third quarter to boost them to a 46-33 lead after three quarters.

Mandy Traversa and Maddie Baillie each led the Wheaton North offense with 11 points. Jaquala Hillman had 9.

Glenbard North was led by Brianna Harn’s game-high 19 points. Teddi Govedarica followed with 9.