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Girls Basketball: ‘Neuqua basketball’ overpowers Naperville Central
Updated: January 9, 2012 10:08PM
When they were down by nine points at the end of the third quarter it was time for host Neuqua Valley to just go out and play “Neuqua basketball.”
And that, according to senior co-captain Amber Smith meant “hustling, getting after it more, always diving on the floor, always getting rebounds and finishing” at the hoop.
Playing “Neuqua basketball” the Wildcats (14-1) went out in that fourth quarter and outscored Naperville Central 22-7 and won 44-38.
“The coach (Mike Williams) always says our defense will turn into offense,” said Najee Smith, who scored all of her team-leading 12 points in the fourth quarter. “Amber Smith is a huge part of our defense. She helps everyone, tells people where to go, fronts the post and she’s so strong. She keeps our defense together.”
Amber Smith finished with five points, but she also had five steals and five offensive rebounds. Coleman had four steals and Allison Hedrick had nine boards and three steals.
The Wildcats physical play seemed to rattle the Redhawks (10-8) into some forced shots and several turnovers. First, a steal by Najee Smtih, which she converted into a layup tied the score at 33-33 and another led to a pair of foul shots by Amarah Coleman made it 35-33 and put Neuqua into the lead for good.
“I don’t know what got into us in that fourth quarter,” said Williams. “In the first three quarters we had no transition, no energy, or enthusiasm. Amber Smith really saved us by rebounding, staying aggressive and coming up with some steals. The biggest thing was we had to find a way to pull it out, and we did.”
Naperville Central led at the end of every quarter, and toward the end of the third quarter the Redhawks were ahead 31-19 when Coleman hit a three-pointer to bring the deficit to single digits at 31-22 at the end of the period.
“We were comfortable with a 31-19 lead,” said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum. “And things seemed to go haywire from there. They got extra, extra aggressive and we had difficulty handling their pressure. That’s happened to us several times and it’s very discouraging. With all that physical pressure they were giving, we didn’t go to the line once in the entire fourth quarter. That’s really something I don’t understand.”
Jamie Cuny led the Redhawks scoring with 12 points and added three seals, and Emma Donahue brought down eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
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