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Naperville Central keeps moving up

While not quite all the way there, Naperville Central is getting darn close to fulfilling its coach's dream of 32 "great" minutes of girls basketball.

The Redhawks used a great rally to knock off Wheaton North on Thursday night in a key DuPage Valley Conference contest and then carried their mojo into Saturday morning's battle with Bishop McNamara, the state's top-ranked team in Class 2A. While Naperville Central eventually dropped the game 66-60 in first-day action at the 25th annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook, they first threw a mighty scare into the 18-2 Irish.

Bishop McNamara and star point guard Khadaizha Sanders made 10 of 12 shots in the first quarter, and the Rutgers-bound senior finished the night with 18 points and 8 assists.

But Naperville Central (9-13) just wouldn't go away, even on a day when leaders Emily Kraft and Cierra Stanciel were not at their very best. With Hannah Swarm and Haley Minick shining and the Redhawks playing well as a team, the Irish found themselves leading just 47-44 heading to the fourth quarter.

"We always look at these games as learning experiences. These last couple weeks we played some really, really tough teams, and we feel like it really showed against Wheaton North," said Minick, who had 14 points and 7 rebounds. "We love playing tough teams. It's a challenge and it makes us better."

Bishop McNamara opened the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run that proved to be the difference in the outcome, but even so the Redhawks stayed the course and closed the gap to 64-57 in the final minute and had the ball before a turnover finally allowed the Irish to let out a sigh of relief.

"I don't like losing, but I like the way we played," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "I'm real pleased with where we're at, but we've got to keep moving up now. The amount of minutes we play great keeps getting bigger. We're going to get it to 32."

Swarm, who led the Redhawks with 15 points, said Thursday's comeback from 17 points down in the third quarter to win over Wheaton North gave the team a boost of confidence that carried over into Saturday's matchup.

"We just stuck with it. We really worked well as a team today and we were real positive with each other," said Swarm, who had 9 points in the first half which ended with Bishop McNamara ahead 37-28. "We knew we were playing a great team, so we just went out there and gave it our all.

"I think definitely our game with Wheaton North when we were down 17 really helped us. We knew we could come back."

But in the end the Irish showed why they were ranked so high. Not only was Sanders firing no-look passes to teammates cutting to the basket, but Bishop McNamara also shot well from the perimeter and went 7 of 7 from the foul line. Sanders was one of four Irish to score in double figures, including Corinne O'Connor, who scored 15 points before fouling out with two minutes left to play.

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