Naperville Central takes control of DVC
Naperville Central senior Emily Kraft knew exactly what was at stake in Thursday's DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball game at cross-town rival Naperville North.
"Honestly it felt great," Kraft said after the Redhawks' 61-56 victory. "It's always nice to beat your rival team. We knew we had to win this game to keep the DVC title in our hands. It was really nice to win this, and that close of a game, it feels even better."
Naperville Central (12-13, 6-1) is the only one-loss team in the DVC. With Wheaton North's loss to Glenbard North on Thursday, the Redhawks have a two-game lead to protect with just three league games left on their schedule.
"You want your destiny in your own hands," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum added. "We're pretty happy with where we're at."
A Kayla Sharples putback gave the Huskies their final lead of the game, 56-55 with 48 seconds to play. But the Redhawks did all the scoring the rest of the way, with Kraft driving to the basket with 36 seconds to play to retake the lead.
"I was told to shoot," said Kraft, who made three 3-pointers. "I was not told to take it to the basket, but there was an opening on the right side of the lane, and they were all looking around because they thought I was going to get screened to shoot, so there was a wide-open lane."
"It was a good call, really," Nussbaum said of Kraft's decision to drive. "She did a nice job. I mean, how huge is that basket?"
A couple of Hannah Swarm free throws and a Cierra Stanciel steal and layup sealed the victory.
The loss was tough to take for the Huskies (11-9, 3-4).
"We fought to the end," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. "There was no quit in the Huskies. I think we have some girls struggling right now. We're searching for a second and third scorer. I think that's obvious. But we're going to keep fighting and we're going to keep plugging away."
Sharples, however, was magnificent, scoring 33 points, with 10 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot. She scored 12 points in the final quarter.
"That performance by Sharples was unbelievable," Nussbaum said. "... It wasn't like we weren't trying to stop her."
"She really is (amazing)," Dycus added. "Everyone says it after every game, every opposing coach. She has an incredible will to win."
Kraft finished with a team-best 19 points, with Stanciel adding 17 and Haley Minick contributing 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"We've come a long way as a team, and we're playing pretty good basketball right now. And we beat a team that I thought was pretty good," Nussbaum said.
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