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Girls Basketball: Naperville Central stays in DVC race with win over Naperville North
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 12, 2012 10:20PM
Naperville Central stayed in the hunt for the DuPage Valley Conference title.
The Redhawks, who started Thursday one game behind DVC leader Wheaton Warrenville South, put everything together for a 54-42 win over host and crosstown rival Naperville North.
“In terms of conference, we want to keep Wheaton South in our sights,” said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum. “Every game is a big game.”
The Redhawks (11-8, 5-1) got big offensive games from all three members of its tall front-line and executed its defensive plan to stop Naperville North’s big scorer Shannon Bushman in a game that they pretty much controlled from the beginning.
“We just wanted to keep Bushman under control, and we were pretty confident that if we did, we could control the rest of the game,” said Emma Donahue, who led the Redhawks with 14 points and six blocked shots.”
Forwards Jamie Cuny and Victoria Trowbridge also had big nights with Cuny scoring 13, including a pair of three-pointers and Trowbridge hitting a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
“We performed pretty well against a team that has been performing well,” said Nussbaum. “The key was our zone defense which was designed to slow them down a little. Making shots sure helps. When you make shots, they can’t get out on the break as much.”
The Redhawks led by 12 after the first quarter, by 11 at the half and they increased the lead to 17 after three quarters.
“Our guards were getting it inside,” said Donahue. “And when they collapsed, we kicked it out to the shooters. Jamie had a great game shooting the lights out.”
Nussbaum also praised guard Shannon Ryan for the role she played in stopping Bushman in the box-and-one defense.
Bushman was held to eight points. Delaney White led the Huskies (10-7, 2-4) with nine points on three three-pointers. Kayla Sharples and Kathlen Hahne each scored eight.
“Kayla was in foul trouble for most of the game,” said Naperville North coach Jacquie Discipio. “Their box and one bottled Shannon up, and Zoe (Swift) had an off-night. That equals us not looking our best tonight.”
Discipio was impressed with the Redhawks both on offense and defense.
“Their defense was great,” she said. “They executed their plan. And their offense is dangerous. The big girls can hit from the outside. We had open looks, but we missed a ton of shots. Nothing was going our way tonight.”
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