Naperville North tops Neuqua, still perfect in DVC

While Greta Kampschroeder is an exceptional talent and a McDonald's All-American, Naperville North remains undefeated in the DVC because the impressive cast of Huskies around her also is playing fantastic basketball.

Kampschroeder, junior Sarah Crossett and sophomore Layla Henderson each scored 13 points to lead the Huskies to a 53-42 road victory against Neuqua Valley on Friday night.

"We've got a great support system around (Kampschroeder)," Huskies coach Erin Colletti said. "It's very balanced."

Naperville North (7-1, 6-0) scored the final six points of the first half and then opened the second half with a quick basket on an inbounds pass that Crossett laid in for a 27-17 lead.

"She has developed her game so much," Colletti said. "I feel spring, summer, fall, she didn't take a day off. It's obviously shown. She's finishing so much better inside and has the ability to take it off the dribble and shoot the 3. She's a tough girl to guard and I'm loving her this season."

Crossett has sparred plenty with Kampschroeder in practice and those battles have only made them better players.

"She's just worked so hard and it's been paying off," Kampschroeder said. "She hasn't had one bad game. She's been playing this way all season. She's a big reason why we are playing this well and why I believe we're one of the top teams in the state. It's only up from here for her."

Henderson scored all of her points in the second half, with 10 coming in third quarter as the Huskies seemingly broke the game open, especially after Henderson drilled a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter for a 48-29 advantage.

You wanna guess who talked to Henderson at halftime?

"I don't really know what was going on in the first half," Henderson said. "At halftime Greta and coach talked about how I can take anybody off my first step. I guess I can so I kept going for it and it worked."

While you can't bank on the 3s always falling, if you've got the wheels to get to the hoop like few can, it's certainly a worthwhile option for Henderson to utilize to help the Huskies.

"I was really proud of Layla as she's been kind of a 3-pointer shooter a lot of the season and we said, 'Layla, get to the basket and open yourself up,'" Colletti said. "She's strong and has got the quickest first step that nobody can stop."

Neuqua Valley (6-3, 3-3) struggled against the defensive pressure of the Huskies, committing 18 turnovers.

"We needed a couple of shots and they're a physical, big, seasoned team," Wildcats coach Mike Williams said. "And you're asking a couple little point guards to step up, which they did. And two years from now those kids are going to be seasoned, so it's a great learning experience, so we'll take it."

Jada Devine paced the Wildcats with 12 points while freshman Kylee Norkus and senior Claudia Gallegos each chipped in with 8 apiece. Kampschroeder pulled down 11 rebounds for the Huskies.