Naperville North wins 3rd straight

Naperville North coach Jacquie Discipio knows that when Colleen Warren has the ball on the outside and "gets that look in her eye," she's going to the hoop.

On Tuesday Warren got that look and drove across the lane for five acrobatic short one-handers and finished with a game-high 20 points to help the host Huskies overcome a 7-point halftime deficit and defeat DuPage Valley Conference opponent Glenbard East 52-38.

It was the Huskies' third straight win, their biggest winning streak of the year.

"I saw the open lane and I knew I'd probably make those shots," Warren said. "Even though I was off-balance, I pulled it off somehow."

"Colleen has that confidence that she can go to the basket and score," Discipio said. "Everything is coming together now for our team. We're learning how to compete. The girls are getting rewarded for their hard work."

The Huskies (7-17, 5-7) were a little frantic on offense in the first half and lost the battle of the boards to the taller Rams (8-16, 1-11), who took their biggest lead of the night into the locker room.

But everything settled down for Naperville North in the second half. The Huskies played more patiently on offense and caused numerous Rams turnovers with a pesky press and a physical half-court defense.

"We're used to coming back from a deficit," Warren said. "So it was easier for us to pick it up in the second half. We were pressuring their guards and we boxed out a lot more. And Zoe (Swift) did a great job of penetrating, opening up the outside for our shooters and then dishing off."

The third quarter belonged to the Huskies as they went on an 11-point run and outscored the Rams 12-2, with Shannon Bushman doing a lot of the damage with 6 of her 10 points.

But it was Ashley Weizeorick's driving layup that put the Huskies into the lead for good at 32-30.

The Huskies then won going away, outscoring the Rams 29-8 in the second half.

"We've learned how to relax on the court," Discipio said. "We play more cohesively on offense and we're scrappier and yet more disciplined on defense."

Emily Koch -with 12 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals - was outstanding for the Huskies.

Glenbard East, which looked like the better team in the first half, had troubles on both ends of the court after the break.

"In the first half we looked inside to our forwards," said Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller. "We just lost our composure in the second half. We broke down on defense and we had trouble getting into our flow on offense. And they really capitalized.

"Our team has the ability to play with anybody, but we can't keep it going for four quarters."

Nikki Hall and Jamie Klepetka each scored 10 points for the Rams, and Lindsey Fairbairn had 6 steals.