Girls basketball: Hackett scores 27, helps Naperville Central rally past St. Charles North in OT

This wasn’t simply another nonconference game for Naperville Central senior captain Erin Hackett against St. Charles North on Tuesday.

She was playing against Riley Barber and Sydney Johnson, with whom she was on the same travel team last summer.

All three players were major factors, but it was Hackett’s Redhawks who emerged victorious, 58-48, in overtime.

“We don't give each other easy buckets,” said Hackett. “We're all on defense playing against each other. It's a harder game when your old teammate knows what you can do, so it's a harder game to show that you can do some things.”

Led by nine of Hackett’s game-high 27 points, the Redhawks (19-3) held a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. The North Stars (14-5) flipped the script with six 3-pointers in the second en route to going up, 27-25, at halftime.

After the teams totaled seven points each in the third, Hackett scored eight in the fourth, which helped put Naperville Central up five. But St. Charles North refused to concede, and Johnson hit a 3 that not only tied the game at 46 late but capped her team-high scoring at 16 points.

Neither team was able to score in the final minute of regulation including Barber missed 3 in the final seconds.

Hackett had six of the Redhawks’ 12 points in the extra period. By the time Lelanie Posada made the North Stars’ only basket during that time to finish with 14 points, the outcome had already been decided.

“It seemed like we kind of had them in the fourth quarter and let it get away,” said Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum. “And then, I thought (we) did a real nice job in the overtime. It was a work in progress the whole time, but it's a real nice win over a real nice team.”

Annabelle Kritzer achieved a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds for Naperville Central. She also had five assists to tie with Hackett for the game high.

Collette McInerney scored 10 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“It's learning how to execute when games are tight,” North Stars coach Grant Oler said. “That's what really good teams do, and we're on the verge of it. We're just waiting for that breakthrough moment to happen. They're great girls. We dug ourselves a hole and then had to find our way out of it. And credit to them. They did. But we just did not make enough plays down in the end.”

Barber just missed a double-double for St. Charles North with 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Despite making only one basket, Bronwyn How was great defensively with eight boards and a game-high four steals. Posada and Brianna Buono both had 3 steals.