St. Charles North edges Naperville Central for 5th at Dundee-Crown

During her playing days at Wheaton Warrenville South in the mid-1990s, Colleen Brennan remembers some tough moments in DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball action against Naperville Central and longtime coach Andy Nussbaum.

Brennan will have much better memories of her first coaching confrontation with Nussbaum's Redhawks after St. Charles North emerged with a 46-43 victory over Naperville Central in the fifth-place contest at the 27th annual Dundee-Crown Charger Classic in Carpentersville on Wednesday.

After falling behind 41-39 on a 3-pointer by Emma Ondik midway through the fourth quarter, the North Stars (11-5) held the Redhawks (13-2) to just one field goal over the final 4:01 while managing just enough offense down the stretch.

"It was good defense on both ends," said Brennan. "It was a pretty low scoring game for two pretty strong ball clubs. Our effort on the court was unbelievable."

Never was that more evident than the final 14-second sequence when all the Redhawks could get coming out of a timeout was a desperation 3-point attempt that missed the mark.

"We were all over them," Brennan said of the final play. "We had a foul to give if needed but it couldn't be on the shot. They could have called a foul toward the end but not on the shot, and I don't think that would have made any impact on the game."

Ondik, who scored 8 of her 10 points in the second half, admitted that her team's final possession didn't go as planned.

"We just didn't execute the play that we ran at the end," she said.

Naperville Central, which had its 12-game winning streak snapped by Johnsburg in Monday's quarterfinal round, misfired on its first 11 3-point attempts while falling behind 23-17 at halftime.

Meanwhile, the North Stars got back-to-back 3-pointers from Sydney Russell (8 points) during their 12-7 second-quarter surge.

St. Charles North's lead swelled to 26-17 on a putback by Dana Sibley (9 points, 5 rebounds) before the Redhawks began to find their shooting touch. A 3-pointer from Claire Fleming (12 points) tied the game at 31 late in the third quarter before Tess Fischer's 3-pointer gave the North Stars a 34-31 lead heading into the final period.

Trailing 41-39 with 4:02 remaining, the North Stars enjoyed a 6-0 spurt, tying the game on a reverse layup by Jenna Bell (12 points, 10 rebounds) before taking the lead for good at 43-41 on a fast-break layup from Kate Booe with 3:10 left.

Reserves Taylor Russell (6 points) and Booe combined for 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals.

"Kate (Booe) had a great game," said Brennan. "She was huge and Taylor (Russell) - I wouldn't want her guarding me. That girl's a tough 5-6."

St. Charles North finished the rugged tourney with a 3-1 record.

"We're just happy that we came out of this tournament with a couple wins after we lost that one (quarterfinal loss to Prospect)," said Bell.

Now Brennan joins a shortlist of Illinois high school girls basketball coaches to own a winning record against Nussbaum's Redhawks - albeit 1-0.

"We gave each other a big hug before the game," said Brennan, whose older brother was Nussbaum's assistant coach in 1993. "That's a great ballclub and Nussbaum's a great coach."