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This time of year, it's all about blood, sweat and tears

No matter how deep in the Class 4A girls basketball playoffs Naperville Central goes, it almost certainly won't have another game like Friday's regional final.

The Redhawks needed three overtimes to defeat their cross-town and DuPage Valley Conference rival Naperville North in a game both coaches agreed was worthy of a sectional.

"When you're talking about tournament games," said the Redhawks' Andy Nussbaum, a two-time state championship coach, "people got their money's worth, that's for sure. I mean this was an outstanding high school basketball game. It had a little bit of everything."

It was the first time the teams had played in a regional championship game in Nussbaum's 30 seasons. And it was a very different game from their two DVC meetings.

When the teams played Jan. 11, the Redhawks won by 22. On Feb. 1 the Redhawks won by 12.

"Every time we've played them they've gotten better," Naperville Central junior Lucy Schmid said of the Huskies. "I know the last game we played them they were really good, but I knew this game was going to be even harder. And they were just really making their shots and really driving really well. And I knew once we got into overtime we just really had to step it up, and I'm glad we did."

The end of the game - once it eventually came - brought a flood of emotion. For the Redhawks it was joy and relief. For the Huskies it was sorrow and regret.

After spending three and a half months together, day in, day out, through all the practices and bus rides, the end of the season comes abruptly and often tearfully. That it took three extra periods of play to eliminate the Huskies just made it harder to take in that moment.

"I think you tell your kids how incredibly proud you are of them and the character and the work ethic that they possess and the belief that they have that we have arrived as a program," Huskies coach Jason Dycus said. "And we can go on to our archrival's floor and play them for the third time in a regional championship game when they're (26-3) and it's a one-possession game that could have gone either way. And a triple-overtime game. All I can say is how proud I am. Because there was no quit in the Huskies, I can tell you that."

The Huskies weren't just better when playing the Redhawks. Their Jan. 15 game against Montini, when they wiped out a 20-point deficit and nearly beat one of the state's top teams showed the Huskies what they were capable of. After that game they lost only to Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South, one with 27 wins, the other with 26.

Which only made going into that postgame locker room even tougher for the Huskies coaches.

"It's the toughest thing to do as a coach," Dycus said. "Because they're very emotional. They care a lot. They're saying goodbye to six seniors that have given their blood, sweat and tears to this program. ... You tell them that you're sad that it's over, because you want to keep coaching kids like that. Because we finished the season really strong.

"I'm just sad more people didn't get to see it. That was a great battle. It was fun."

Naperville Central hopes to have a lot more fun this season, but the Redhawks won't have fun like that again.

Breaking down this week's girls basketball sectionals

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