Baird returns to lead Wheaton North past Elk Grove

DEKALB - Nikki Baird dreamed of playing for girls basketball regional titles back when her older sister, Chrissy Baird, played for Wheaton North.

While Chrissy was a key part of one regional championship team in 2013, Nikki one-upped her on Thursday night, helping the Falcons win their second straight regional title with a 51-39 victory over Elk Grove in the Class 4A DeKalb regional final.

Now she has some sibling bragging rights with her sister, although Chrissy is still doing well herself as a redshirt junior playing for UCLA, ranked in No. 7 in the latest AP poll.

Baird, who returned this week after missing the last several weeks with a broken wrist, led the way with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

"I'm sure my parents have kept (Chrissy) updated and she's in Oregon for a game on Friday," Baird said. "I'm just so blessed to be a part of Wheaton North basketball. With my sister playing for four years here and then an off year before I came here, I have always looked forward to games like these. I knew it would be amazing and these girls are like my sisters."

Wheaton North (21-9) struggled in putting away Elk Grove (14-14) but gave itself some breathing room with an impressive run in just 90 seconds to close the third quarter.

The Falcons turned a 32-31 lead into a 40-31 advantage to enter the fourth quarter after junior Sarah Topps drained her lone 3-pointer of the night a few seconds before the buzzer sounded.

"Once they got that gap we couldn't close it back down," Grenadiers coach Jennifer Buxton said. "Sometimes the shots just don't fall, but I was proud of them for still taking them and for not backing down."

The Grens pulled to within 40-33 on a pair of free throws from freshman Isabella Tierney to open the fourth quarter, but two minutes later Tierney was whistled for her fourth foul when senior Sophie Ahlberg took a charge.

Ahlberg did the dirty work that often goes unnoticed in the box score, primarily in defending Megan Murray.

"Sophie controlled their point guard and did a great job on her," Falcons coach Dave Eaton said. "She had 23 (points) against Lake Park and we knew she couldn't get out scoring like that and Sophie kept contesting shots and did an awesome job for us."

It took the Falcons seemingly forever to get going. While the fans from Elk Grove's team bus finally walked into the gym in the first minute of the game, Wheaton North's offense didn't score until freshman Ellie Hubbard's putback with 1:17 remaining in the first quarter made it 6-2.

"You work hard all season from November to get to this point and there's fear because you don't want it to end," Eaton said. "We got things settled once the first ball went through and then we were able to breathe a little easier and executed better."

Swider, who made three 3-pointers in the first half, finished with 11 points. Matti Zander added 9 points for the Falcons.

Murray led the Grens with 13 points and junior Rachel Kandefer battled through foul trouble in the second half but still grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 7 shots.