Wheaton North wins share of DVC for first time since 1991

With a chance to clinch at least a share of the DuPage Valley Conference title Thursday night, the Wheaton North girls basketball team headed to Carol Stream for their game against Glenbard North determined to earn a win.

The Falcons pressured Glenbard North into 15 turnovers in the first quarter alone, shooting out to a 19-3 lead after one period en route to a 52-36 victory.

Thursday's win gave Wheaton North (18-7) a 12-2 mark in the DVC, and coupled with Naperville Central's victory Thursday night, provided the Falcons with just its fifth claim to a conference title since the early 1970s and its first since 1991.

"It's fantastic. I love it," a smiling Lauren Hoffman said after the game. "It just hasn't really sunk in fully, but if this is how I feel now, it's awesome."

Wheaton North's full-court press created all sorts of problems for the Panthers (9-18, 6-8), who didn't convert on a field-goal attempt until early in the second quarter.

"Our defense is phenomenal, and our pressure has just gotten so much better since our (Dec. 22) loss to Elk Grove," Hoffman said. "That really pushed us to have better defense, and we really stressed busting out."

"We did a good job against Wheaton South on Tuesday to put ourselves in this position," Falcons coach Dave Eaton said. "We knew what was riding on it, and now we're conference champs.

"There's nine seniors on this time, so it's good for our seniors to go out with a championship."

Wheaton North swelled its lead to 23 points midway through the second quarter, giving Eaton a golden opportunity to provide his bench with meaningful minutes heading into the postseason.

"We talked about our bench having to come off and have a big game, and I thought it was good that we got a lot of people some minutes going into the postseason," Eaton said. "It was good to get some kids some experience in a crucial situation, so that way we could go into the postseason ready to go."

Playing on its home court for the final time this season, Glenbard North pulled off an 11-4 run at the outset of the fourth quarter to cut the Falcons' lead to 10, but it was as close as the home team would get.

"We got to the rim a few more times, hit a couple of offensive shots and ran our offensive sets," Panthers coach John Chamberlain said. "(But) if you build a big deficit like that, you know the game is pretty much over at that point."