Naperville North gets off to good start in new year

When you've lost 11 of your first 13 games, it's natural to look for an excuse to wipe the season's slate clean.

For the Naperville North girls basketball team, that opportunity came with the turn of the calendar to 2010.

Sitting at 2-11 overall following the Naperville North/Benet Christmas Tournament, the Huskies decided to refocus their efforts on the defensive side of the ball.

The early results look positive.

Naperville North (3-11, 2-2 DuPage Valley Conference) erased a 5-point deficit against Glenbard North on Tuesday night in the game's final minute, escaping Carol Stream with a 51-50 victory.

"We've been really focusing on defense the past couple of practices, and tonight I told them it was their destiny to have to focus on their defense," Naperville North coach Jacquie Discipio said. "After the tournament I felt like that was probably our low point of the season.

"A better defensive attitude, better defensive fundamentals - that's what we've been focusing on - and tonight, of course, it would come down to what we've been focusing on."

Megan Carbon's layup with 55 seconds remaining in the game gave the Panthers (2-14, 0-4) a 50-45 advantage. Four straight points from Naperville North's Colleen Warren pulled the Huskies within a point, before freshman Zoe Swift's free throws with 28 seconds to go put the visitors ahead for good.

"We haven't won in a while," Warren said. "We had a low point in the tournament, but we decided that it's a new year and we wanted to start over fresh."

Naperville North's defense improved as the game progressed. Glenbard North knocked down 8 of 11 field-goal attempts in the first quarter but managed to sink only 6 total shots across the game's final half.

Panthers coach John Chamberlain watched his team lose a similar game to Naperville North earlier this year and felt his team took a step backward after a pair of wins before the winter break.

"The word on the board was panic, and there's no other way to describe it. We did the same thing at their place," Chamberlain said. "You've got to execute what you're trying to do, and we didn't."

With nearly all the nonconference and holiday distractions in the rearview mirror, Naperville North sophomore guard Shannon Bushman feels excited to bring the team's new philosophy into the heart of the DVC schedule.

"I feel like our team is really starting to come together," Bushman said, "and I think we're all just excited to finally get into DVC and just pick it up."