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Sharples, Naperville North stun WW South

Naperville North senior Kayla Sharples scored 17 of her game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, but it was her final basket that sealed the win for the Huskies.

Clinging to a 53-52 lead, Sharples' steal and layup with 18 seconds left gave her team some breathing room.

A Wheaton Warrenville South 3-point attempt near the top of the key rimmed out in the final seconds, giving the Huskies a 55-52 DuPage Valley Conference victory on the road Thursday night.

"We didn't want to foul, but we wanted to anticipate and see if we could get a steal," Sharples said of the key defensive stop. "I saw the pass and knew I could get there, so after that, I went up for the left-hand layup and I was just hoping I'd make it."

Sharples also scored the go-ahead basket, going nearly the length of the court and finishing with a layup to put the Huskies up 53-52 with 45 seconds left. It was the finishing touch that erased what was once a 9-point WW South fourth-quarter lead as the Tigers were held without a field goal in the final 5:30.

"We switched our defenses by floating back between man and zone," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. "I think it helped us with (WW South's) guard pressure and some of their open looks we were giving in our man defense. They got some open 3s with (Erin) Madigan, so I wanted to go to a zone and take some of the pressure off. It worked to our advantage."

WW South (13-15, 5-4) came back from a 24-15 second-quarter deficit with a 17-0 run that stretched between the second and third quarters.

A 3-pointer by Olivia Linebarger at the halftime buzzer cut the Huskies' lead to 26-25, and the Tigers carried that momentum into the third quarter, scoring on their first four possessions to go up 34-26.

WW South held a 9-point lead at 46-37 off a rebound basket by Marissa Lessick with six minutes left, but Naperville North (12-9, 4-4) began to chip away at the lead, beginning with a 5-point swing.

Sharples connected on a 3-pointer and the Huskies maintained possession due to a Tigers foul away from the basket. Sharples then scored inside off a rebound to cut the lead to 46-42.

"In the last couple of minutes, it came down to a lot of things; missed layups, missed free throws, turnovers, not getting defensive rebounds," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "To be down 1 at the half and build a lead, you've got to control the tempo of the game when you have that. We got ourselves caught a couple times in bad spots and all of a sudden they're making a run."

The Tigers' final field goal of the night came with about 5:30 left when Jayla Johnson scored inside off an assist from Madigan, which made the score 48-46.

"This was really a big win for us," Dycus said. "I couldn't be more proud of the girls. There's no quit in the Huskies. They're fun to coach and I'm just very happy for them. This is the time of year you want to start your peak. What a better way to do it here against an opponent we respect."

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