Naperville North reverses slump
As usual, Naperville North senior Kayla Sharples contributed plenty at both ends of the basketball court Monday.
What the rest of the Huskies did, however, also proved to be a factor in a hard-fought 52-48 victory over St. Joseph's Academy (Frontenac, Mo.) at the 25th annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook following tough back-to-back DuPage Valley Conference losses.
"Overall we worked a lot better as a team. Definitely, the scoring was balanced and everyone had that heart and everyone wanted to win," said Sharples, who collected 25 points and 12 rebounds.
"We were in a slump, so definitely winning this game helped us get out of that. We needed this win really badly just to spark our hearts and minds again to know we have a lot more in front of us."
The Huskies (10-7) saw five other players add between 4 and 7 points. Junior Cece Pope's 14 rebounds also helped the Huskies dominate 42-25 in rebounds.
Both teams had 17 field goals. The smaller Angels (7-7), an all-girls school from suburban St. Louis, nailed seven 3-pointers, 3 each in the third and fourth quarters.
However, Naperville North made 17 of 21 free throws compared to St. Joseph's 7 of 16.
Sharples and Katie Cores were 5 for 6 on free throws and Laurel Pereira was 4 for 5. Naperville North coach Jason Dycus also praised reserves Chloe O'Dekirk and Olivia Stapleton.
"I think it was a team victory today," Dycus said. "They're a good program in Missouri and it was fun for us to get a good win against a good opponent. Hopefully, it'll get us going and spur us on to bigger and better things."
The Huskies led 44-36 with 3:53 left but fell behind for the only time in the game when the Angels rebounded their missed free throw and 6-foot-1 reserve Alex Kerr scored for a 45-44 lead with 2:33 left.
Over the Huskies' next three possessions, Sharples scored back-to-back baskets on drives and Pereira sank two free throws for a 50-45 lead with 47.7 seconds. Sharples added two free throws with 13.8 seconds for the game's final points.
"I think that's a sign of things to come, hopefully, this second half of the season. Teams are going to make runs, especially good teams and especially teams that shoot a lot of 3s like they do," Dycus said. "It's about us making a bigger run - and responding. Our girls did that and (Sharples) does that every game. I love having her on our team."
The 5-11 Sharples had 12 of the Huskies' 18 fourth-quarter points. She also spent the latter half of the game chasing 5-7 senior guard Mary Barton, who will play basketball next season at Division II Truman State.
Barton had 21 points on 9-for-20 shooting with three 3-pointers and no free throws. She had only 8 points in the second half with 4 assists.
"Having (Dycus) tell me at half I was going to be on her, I took it to heart," said Sharples, who will play soccer at Northwestern. "I love any kind of challenge I could possibly have. It just makes me that much better of a player. She was very quick, so I had to be quick on my feet, too."
Barton is the only returning starter from last year's Class 5A third-place finisher. She had 13 of the Angels' 18 halftime points and was their only starter who scored.
St. Joseph's was 6 for 11 on 3s in the second half after going 1 for 17 in the first.
"(We thought) they've got to start falling in the second half but we also needed to take care of the boards a bit more. We gave up too many second shots," St. Joseph's coach Julia Mahoney said.
"Most ballclubs have that one kid on the club when it gets tight, that's who they're going to look for. That's Mary Barton with us. We just wanted anybody else, but (Sharples) to beat us and that didn't happen."