Neuqua Valley fends off St. Charles North
Some could say Neuqua Valley’s 45-39 victory at St. Charles North Wednesday night was an example of the Wildcats winning without their best stuff.
Glib Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams had his own way of describing it.
“I felt like I was in the dentist chair with no novocaine,” Williams said. “Every tooth was getting touched.”
St. Charles North coach Colleen Brennan shared those emotions at times, especially when her team got to the free-throw line. The North Stars hit just 7 of 20 — Neuqua Valley wasn’t much better at 9 of 21 — which combined with 25 turnovers cost the North Stars (12-14) an upset of the 19-6 Wildcats.
“Truly you take out us giving up 25 extra possessions of the ball and that’s a different ballgame,” Brennan said.
Neuqua Valley never trailed. Many of the final stats were close to a push. The Wildcats grabbed 33 rebounds to the North Stars’ 32 and committed 3 fewer turnovers. They shot better from the floor, 40 percent to 32.5 to make up the North Stars’ 6 3-pointers.
Even the leading scorers were dead even. Alexa Wilde and Malia Smith had 11 points for the Wildcats; Sydney and Taylor Russell 11 points each for the North Stars.
“We felt like we didn’t really find our rhythm tonight,” said Wilde, who also snared a game-high 11 rebounds. “We felt a little off on offense. They made us work too. They forced us to buckle down.”
If nothing else, St. Charles North was consistent offensively scoring 9 points in the first quarter and then 10 in the second, third and fourth quarters.
“Overall we did a lot of good things,” Brennan said. “We’re playing well now and we’re playing deep.”
The Wildcats played their best in the opening 8 minutes, forcing 11 turnovers including freshman Smith’s steal she took in for a layup that gave the Wildcats a 15-9 lead after a quarter.
Neuqua Valley took its biggest lead at 25-14 late in the second quarter on Wilde’s basket. Sydney Russell’s 3-pointer and Leah Horton’s bucket brought the North Stars within 25-19 at halftime.
St. Charles North also made a run at the end of the third quarter. After a pair of Megan Doody 3-pointers put the Wildcats ahead 33-24, Alex Silverman’s 3 and a pair of Taylor Russell free throws narrowed the gap to 33-29 heading to the final quarter.
Tess Fischer opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer that brought the North Stars within 33-32, the closest they would get. They had possession and a chance at their first lead only to see Najee Smith’s hustling steal lead to a Wilde basket on the other end.
Wilde scored again with 3:08 left to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 38-34. A 3-point play by Amber Smith gave Neuqua Valley a 43-36 lead, enough of a cushion to withstand Taylor Russell’s 3 points in the final minute.
“The good thing is, on the positive side, if you can find a way to overcome adversity and weather the storm and come out with a victory, that’s a positive,” Williams said.
“We’re in a situation like a lot of other teams that are playing almost every day. We need to get practice time. We need to go back and fine tune some things. It’s difficult when you are playing every other day. That’s what we need.”
Taylor Russell led the North Stars with 8 rebounds and Leah Horton came off the bench to grab 6 boards and score 7 points. The North Stars still have two regular season games left against Larkin and Elgin before playing South Elgin Wednesday in the Class 4A St. Charles East regional semifinals.
“Taylor has had a huge second half of the season,” Brennan said. “It’s hard to have her off the court defensively. And offensively too, she has been scoring in double digits frequently lately.”