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Girls Basketball: Kayla Sharples powers Naperville North to win
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 10, 2011 7:02PM
Kayla Sharples didn’t play like a freshman in Saturday’s 54-49 win over Oswego East.
She led all scorers with 25 points and also hauled in nine rebounds in the victory against the Wolves.
Sharples credited her older teammates, including senior Shannon Bushman (16 points, six rebounds), with helping her adjust to the varsity level. She also gave fellow Huskies credit for her breakout game.
“Our ball movement was great and (Bushman) just found me the ball,” Sharples said. “The whole team just worked well together.”
Crisp ball movement enabled the Huskies (4-5) to find their share of high-percentage shots within the half-court offense and their defensive intensity created scoring opportunities in the open court.
“I think that we are starting to play much smarter,” Huskies coach Jacquie Discipio said. “I’ve always said we want our defense to spark our offense and I think that’s what happened tonight. We were getting good steals, a good stop and then we were able to push the ball in transition, and score based on that.
“I think our defense brings us energy, brings us momentum and the better we look on defense, the better we usually look on offense.”
Sharples scored 12 in the first half and Bushman added 10 as Naperville North built a 27-21 lead. The Wolves (6-3) got to within 17-16 midway through the second quarter, but the Huskies carried the momentum into halftime and began the third quarter the same way.
Bushman found a cutting Sharples for a layup, she was fouled and made the subsequent free throw for a three-point play that gave Naperville North a 34-25 lead midway through the third.
The Wolves weren’t done though, and trimmed what had been a 50-42 Huskies lead in the fourth to 50-47 with two minutes remaining on a coast-to-coast basket by Arneasa Blair (team-high 16 points). Bushman made a pair of clutch free throws to stretch the lead back to five and Naperville North held on for the win.
The Huskies turned the ball over just 10 times and rode a 19-for-25 shooting (76 percent) performance from the foul line to gain the upper hand in the game. The Wolves committed 11 turnovers and made 12 of their 17 foul shots.
Naperville North also outrebounded the Wolves by a 30-23 margin.
Oswego East coach Abe Carretto said some of his younger players may have been tired in the second of back-to-back games. That wasn’t an excuse, though, and he made that clear.
“I felt our seniors overall did pretty well but sometimes, those underclassmen get a little tired if they’re not used to it,” he said. “And maybe they didn’t have their legs underneath them, in those third and fourth quarters, because Naperville North was doing a good job of pushing the ball up the floor and making us work offensively and defensively.”
Nisede Thomas scored 10 for the Wolves. She, Venita Parsons (nine points) and Kylee Jackson each grabbed five rebounds.
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