Naperville Central escapes Lockport

Naperville Central was all right with forgoing style points Wednesday night. The Redhawks were content to win at the Class 4A Lemont girls basketball regional anyway they could.

Naperville Central started slowly and finished slowly but hung on for a 45-40 victory against Lockport.

"They don't have to be pretty in February," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said with a smile.

The Redhawks will play Bolingbrook at 7 p.m. Thursday in the regional final.

"We're just happy that we get to play Bolingbrook tomorrow," Redhawks senior Hannah Swarm said. "We're excited and we're ready to play our hearts out."

The Redhawks made just 2 of 11 shots in the first quarter, when they fell behind 13-7. They surged ahead in the second, outscoring the Porters 21-4 on 7-of-10 shooting.

"It was a really rough start, but once we got in and got in the hang of things, we looked for each other and everyone was playing hard," Redhawks senior Erin Moran said. "That's what we needed to do."

"The second quarter really carried us," Nussbaum added.

Lockport whittled the Redhawks' lead to 5 in the fourth quarter but couldn't get any closer. The Redhawks converted just 4 of 9 free throws in the final period, allowing the Porters to stay in the game to the end.

"I think we were a little nervous," Swarm said. "I mean, obviously a lot on the line this year. We didn't want to go home today. We worked through the nerves and we're just happy that we get to play another game tomorrow."

Swarm led all scorers with 19 points, plus 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Moran added 11 points.

"Hannah played as well as she's played in a long time," Nussbaum said. "Moran's 3 and her play in the second quarter were huge. They just kind of got us going a little bit. I don't know why we sputtered so much offensively in the second half."

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz