Naperville Central squeaks by Wheaton North
Naperville Central just wanted to change its karma against Wheaton North.
For five years Wheaton North won the first game the two DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball teams played each year, with Naperville Central tying the season series later.
This year the Redhawks drew first blood.
Naperville Central squeaked out a 53-48 victory Saturday afternoon in Naperville to keep stay close to league leader Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We always have a great battle with them," Redhawks senior center Emma Donahue said. "They're a very aggressive team, and they like to bring the pressure in the gym and you just feel the whole atmosphere, but overall I felt we handled it well. We were a little concerned about our younger players adapting to their high-energy noise level. But I was really pleased with how we handled it, and overall I felt both teams played a really strong game."
"A lot of it is (the Falcons) bring a level of intensity to the game that a lot of teams don't bring," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "I thought we handled it today as well as we've ever handled it from them."
The teams went to halftime tied at 25 after 16 minutes that saw 7 ties and 7 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than 3. The Falcons (7-9, 3-3) opened the second half by taking a 4-point lead, but Donahue tied the game again at 31 with 3:35 left, and the Redhawks (10-7, 4-1) finished the third quarter with a 4-point lead of their own.
A Jaquala Hillman basket tied the game again at 43 with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter, but the Redhawks scored the next seven points, all at the free-throw line. The Falcons never got closer than three points the rest of the game.
The Redhawks finished 23 of 30 at the free-throw line.
"I thought their kids did a pretty good job of getting the ball inside and doing what they wanted to do," Falcons coach Dave Eaton said. "We wanted to go at some of their bigger kids and get them in foul trouble and I thought we did that early, but in the second half we didn't do it as well. We turned the ball over a little too much and needed to do a little bit better job. Not our best game tonight."
The Falcons also struggled with their shooting, making just 15 of 51 shots.
"We didn't get a lot to fall," Eaton said. "We had a lot of balls right there on the rim and nothing fell. We have to bounce back here and get ready, but the ball didn't fall."
Orrin Schwarz
Montini 53, Loyola 38:
Kateri Stone and Tianna Brown scored 15 points apiece as Montini took a nonconference victory from Loyola in Lombard.
Nikia Edom added 11 points for the Broncos (18-4). Stone also had 8 rebounds, and Kelsey Bogdan had 6 assists and 5 steals.
Lake Park 52, St. Francis 44:
Alyssa Hernandez scored 20 points and Nicole Moore scored 18, with each player added 13 rebounds for Lake Park (7-8) in a nonconference game in Wheaton. Alyssa Fernandez's 13 points led the Spartans.
Timothy Christian 52, Illiana Christian 33:
Tessa Bosman scored 14 points and Cassidy Block added 13 points and 6 rebounds in a Metro Suburban Conference victory for the Trojans (12-5, 6-1).
Downers Grove North 43, Glenbard West 28:
Mary Echemann scored 20 points for Downers Grove North in its West Suburban Silver win. Junior Ellen Nighbor led Glenbard West with 13 points.
West Aurora 68, Naperville North 61, 2 OT:
Despite 31 points from senior guard Shannon Bushman, 29 of them after halftime, the Huskies lost in the DuPage Valley Conference. Zoe Swift added 15 points.
West Chicago 60, Glenbard East 35:
Kylee Gunderson's 13 points led host West Chicago in the DuPage Valley Conference victory. Maggie Angst led the Rams with 9 points.
WW South 67, Glenbard North 43:
Sierra Bisso scored 16 points and Allie Zappia and Meghan Waldron each added 15 for visiting WW South. Brianna Harn and Teddi Govedarica each scored 14 points for the Panthers.