Girls basketball: Kim’s clutch shooting lifts Fremd to high-scoring win over Naperville Central

Fremd senior Lucy Kim was feeling it.

Through most of three quarters at Naperville Central Saturday in a matchup of two of the top teams in Illinois, the Vikings and Redhawks were locked into a tense, back-and-forth duel.

Then Kim stepped up with a big-time performance.

The senior sank a long 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer, then opened the final stanza with two more 3s to stake her team to a 9-point lead.

Naperville Central was able to close within 6 late, but the Vikings recovered down the stretch to score an 83-71 nonconference victory.

“I’ve put in so much work on my shot during practice,” said Kim, “so everything was just muscle memory at that point. If it’s open, I’m going to shoot it. I’m just happy they went in.”

Fremd senior Greta Thompson was spectacular for the visitors, scoring a team-high 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

Redhawks senior and Clemson recruit Trinity Jones, who missed four games due to injury recently before returning in Friday’s victory over Naperville North, matched Thompson shot for shot. She finished with a game-high 28 points on an afternoon where the Redhawks honored a group of returning alumni.

Classmate Erin Hackett, who moved into second place on the all-time Naperville Central scoring list in Friday’s contest against the Huskies, scored 23 points Saturday. She now has 1,889 points in her career.

She trails only legend Candace Parker, who posted, according to coach Andy Nussbaum, 2,753 points.

“We’ve been playing girls basketball here for over 50 years,” said Nussbaum. “Fifty-five seasons, and to be second in career scoring where the player who’s first in scoring (Parker) might be the best high school player in the history of the game, that’s pretty darn good. That’s a remarkable accomplishment.”

Naperville Central (21-5) held a 20-19 lead early in the second quarter, but the game seesawed back and forth, and Fremd (20-5) went to intermission with a 40-35 advantage after two free throws from 6-foot senior Bella Del Mar.

The Redhawks fought their way to a 55-55 tie late in the third, then the buzzer-beater from Kim pushed Fremd to a 3-point lead entering the fourth.

The Vikings opened a double-digit lead early in the final period, but Naperville Central rallied behind the effort of junior Annabelle Kritzer, who scored 7 of her 14 points in the final stanza.

Thompson poured in 6 points late to help seal the win.

"I feel like this game was a statement game for us," said Kim. "We've come off of a couple of losses (to Marist and Hersey) that were really hard for us. But we've been able to get through it, we're playing as a team and trusting each other."

Kim finished with 16 points for the winners, while senior classmate Sophia McMillan pitched in with 14, and Del Mar finished with 12.

Jones led the way on the boards for the Redhawks with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Jen Doyle, who played for Naperville Central from 1998-2002 and was one of the distinguished alumni honored at halftime, said that the ceremony at intermission was very meaningful.

"This means a lot, to be back in my element," said Doyle, who is currently an elementary school teacher and also coaches the Redhawks JV-2 team. "I played for "Nuss" (coach Nussbaum) back in the day, and now I'm coaching with him, which is amazing.

"This is where I got to play and work hard with a great group of girls every single day, playing the game I love."