Naperville North wallops Lemont to set up another cross-town game
Lauren Platou was in no hurry to see her days as a high school basketball player come to a close, not with another fun cross-town rivalry game within reach for her and her Naperville North teammates.
The three-year varsity player saw to it that the Huskies' season will extend to at least Friday's regional championship against Naperville Central, the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional. Platou recorded game-high totals with 17 points and 10 rebounds as No. 7 Naperville North stormed past No. 10 Lemont 68-38 in Wednesday's regional semifinal at Naperville Central.
The Indians (14-13) struck first on a 3-pointer from Claudia Sikora, but the Huskies went on a 17-0 run en route to a 31-point first quarter. Platou had 7 points in the opening quarter, while teammates Nikki Kwilosz and Greta Kampschroeder each connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the big opening period.
"I think it was just us executing as much as we can. We're always trying to get as much we can, just push the ball up as much as we can and play great defense," said Platou, who welcomes another shot at the Redhawks, who won easily in Wednesday's other semifinal. "It feels great to play like that, too. When you see your team just moving the ball and hitting the open shots. It's great basketball and it's fun to play."
Naperville North has won nine of its last 11 games, but it's been a couple years since the Huskies have knocked off their archrivals, who handed them a pair of defeats while winning the DuPage Valley Conference title this year.
"We have not beaten Central and it's obviously a huge game," Platou added. "As a senior playing Central again, getting to face them, is a lot of fun. We're all excited for it. Getting to play the cross-town rival is a lot of fun. We don't want it to end."
Kampschroeder and Kwilosz each finished with 14 points as the Huskies (16-11) had three players score in double figures, while Emma Bozue paced the Indians with 15 points.
"Absolutely, I'm very happy with the way we started," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. "I'm happy with the way we shared the ball. I think we were hard to guard tonight, and we executed really well."
The Huskies forced 16 Lemont turnovers while building a 49-15 lead at the half.
"We got deflections, we got steals, and we were good on defense and with our press," Dycus said. "We also were hard to guard offensively. Lemont's better than that. They're a winning program. Thirty-one points in a quarter is great basketball. I'm pretty proud of them."
Indians coach Tracey Rainey said her team was focused on trying to limit Kampschroeder, a talented freshman who had 6 assists and 5 steals to go along with her 14 points, all of which came in the first half.
"Obviously, hats off to Naperville North," Rainey said. "They had an excellent game plan and they stuck to it. Our focus was to try and contain 33 and she still got some points. They're phenomenal in transition. They can score in bunches just beating you down the court, and that happened."