Naperville Central sits alone atop DVC

It wasn't exactly the Saturday morning text message Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum had in mind.

Second-leading scorer Emma Donahue was sick and wouldn't make Naperville Central's matchup of DuPage Valley Conference leaders at Wheaton Warrenville South.

"Believe me, it wasn't a very exciting moment," said Nussbaum, himself a victim this week of a flu bug running through school. "But we just said somebody has to step up."

The Redhawks did that, with plenty of heroes playing a part of a 54-52 win that puts Naperville Central alone atop the DVC. Two-time defending co-champion Naperville Central (16-7, 8-1), winners of six straight games, leads WW South (15-6, 7-2) and Wheaton North by a game.

"We wanted to keep our destiny in our own hands," Nussbaum said. "Now we have."

The action was crisp, and the margin tight throughout. The biggest gap over the first three quarters was 5, and WW South took a 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

Redhawks senior Emma Ondik split two free throws to start the fourth, and Jamie Cuny hit her fourth 3-pointer to give Naperville Central the lead for good, up 40-38. Jill D'Amico followed with a running jumper and split two free throws.

Meanwhile WW South missed its first 11 shots of the fourth quarter, going scoreless until Annie Shain's 3-pointer with 2:49 left.

"They're a good team," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said, "and you don't want to chase them. When you play good teams you can't give away possessions."

Cuny and WW South's Maggie Dansdill traded baskets, before Naperville Central salted the game away at the free-throw line. Krissy Many, D'Amico and Ondik all made free throws in the final two minutes, the Redhawks hitting 9 of 10 in that stretch.

"When we have a lead, we make most of our free throws late," said Ondik, an 82 percent free-throw shooter on the season. "That helps a lot. I knew we could do it, even without Emma."

Ondik finished with 19 points, Cuny 16 and D'Amico 11. Victoria Trowbridge pulled down 10 rebounds, and her defense helped hold WW South leading scorer Kasey Gassensmith without a field goal in the second half after scoring 9 points in the first.

"We did a nice job defensively in the second half," Nussbaum said. "Pretty good team victory. We had a lot of things work in our favor today."

In defeat WW South freshman Meghan Waldron scored a season-high 17 points with 6 rebounds. Gassensmith and Shain added 10.

"Meghan's showing more and more each game," Kroehnke said. "When she decides she wants to take over a game, she'll be able to.

"Very happy with our effort we just need to finish the deal," added Kroehnke, whose team saw its eight-game win streak snapped. "It's been a great run. Now we need help in the conference, that's all it is."