Melby, Naperville Central get hot from long range
Claudia Gallegos scored the game's first basket for Neuqua Valley on Thursday, but that proved to be the Wildcats' last hurrah.
Gabi Melby made sure of that.
Melby took over the game for Naperville Central, scoring 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second quarter to lead the host Redhawks to a 56-37 DuPage Valley Conference victory.
The sophomore point guard also had 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals as the Redhawks (10-14, 2-1) recorded their largest margin of victory since losing senior center Lucy Schmid to a torn ACL in the third game of the season.
"Oh, my goodness," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "(Melby) is certainly capable of doing that."
Melby and sophomore Karly Maida each sank 3 of Naperville Central's 10 3-pointers. Four of them came during a 20-11 run in the second quarter, which Melby capped with a 3-pointer off a feed from Maida to give the Redhawks a 28-13 lead.
"'Nuss' talked to me about shooting before the game," Melby said. "He said if the shot is there, then you take it because that's my game.
"So I just looked for shots and looked for my teammates and tried to create for them."
Melby did that from the get-go, firing a no-look pass to Lauren Umbright for Naperville Central's first basket, then finding Maida open in the left corner for the go-ahead 3-pointer. The Redhawks never looked back.
Maida had 9 points and 8 rebounds for the Redhawks, who also got 3-pointers from Emily Spisak, Adita Prasad, Sara Opalka and Amber Hunter.
"We talked to everybody about trying to extend their range because we're not very tall," Nussbaum said. "That's how we have to play.
"We've got to be able to shoot. It's not a luxury; it's more mandatory."
The Redhawks have been beset a terrible rash of injuries this season and lost another player when Prasad injured her ankle in the third quarter. They returned four players who saw action in Central's triple-overtime win over Naperville North in last year's regional final, but that quartet did not play together once this season. Thursday's game was the first since before Thanksgiving that three played in the same game.
But Maida, a varsity rookie who got a chance to start because of the injuries, said there is a silver lining.
"I think the losses might have helped us a little bit," Maida said, "because it just taught us to keep pushing and that we can still win."
Sophomores Jessica Sun and Ellie Wisner each scored 9 points and Ashley Ishman added 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals for Neuqua Valley (11-9, 0-3), which continued a season-long pattern of erratic play.
"The situation right now is there's nothing that they're not prepared for," Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams said. "It goes back to they are a good team that can do great things if they play together. When they don't play together, they (won't)."