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Downers Grove North escapes West Aurora

It wasn't the perfect way to finish a girls basketball game, but it worked out for Downers Grove North.

The Trojans withstood a furious fourth-quarter West Aurora rally, hanging on for a 46-44 victory in Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Trojans (11-4) will meet No. 2 Glenbrook South in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday.

"I think we're meant to be there and I think we're ready to play tomorrow, whoever wins the game," Trojans senior guard Julia Kramper said. "I think we've got a lot of energy, and our defense is getting better game by game, so we're excited."

Downers Grove North led 40-27 entering the fourth quarter after committing just 6 turnovers through the first three quarters. But the Trojans gave up possession eight times in the fourth.

"I think we knew that they were going to up the pressure," said Kramper, who scored Downers Grove North's first 8 points of the second quarter to give the Trojans the lead for good after a first quarter when the teams traded the lead five times. "We didn't want to get comfortable at all. Just had to keep inching away. We did lose our calmness a little bit in the fourth quarter, but we just needed to calm down and take one possession at a time, because we never want to get too ahead of ourselves."

They gave up 17 points in the final period to the sixth-seeded Blackhawks (10-4) while going without a field goal themselves.

"I don't know whether it was having too many days off during Christmas that we weren't able to be sharp down the stretch or we just made bad mistakes, but yeah, we can't give it all away in a hurry like we did and make it a game when we should be heading the other direction if we make some free throws and hit some layups," Trojans coach Stephan Bolt said. "We battled, found a way to win."

Despite losing, West Aurora coach Teresa Waldinger appreciated the finish. The Blackhawks play Willowbrook at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

"I thought that they finished really well," she said of her Blackhawks. "They didn't stop fighting. It was awesome. I think we could've clinched the win, but we had some moments of mental weakness and they kind of capitalized on that."

A Riley Monty 3-pointer pulled West Aurora within 6 points with 2:20 to play. With 15.3 seconds to play, Dajour Miles hit a free throw to narrow the lead to 4, then a Keva Tomas free throw made it 44-41. But Downers Grove North junior point guard Ellie Gross hit a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach. Monty added a 3-pointer to make the final score as close as at any point since early in the second quarter.

Downers Grove North made 6 of 7 free throws in the fourth, with Gross going 4 of 4 and Lauren Sebek 2 of 2.

Gross led both teams with 16 points, and Kramper scored 10. Monty led the Blackhawks with 13 points, Miles had 12 and Tomas 10.

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