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Bolingbrook takes Naperville Central's punch

Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith knew it was coming. He warned his players it was coming. And sure enough, it came.

"One of the things we talked about was that we knew they were going to come out with a punch in the second half," Smith said. "They did against Lockport. We came out with the attitude we got to expect the punch. The questions was, 'How will we handle it?'"

Trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half and 26-15 at halftime, Naperville Central stormed out of the locker room and closed the gap to 29-21 a little more than three minutes into the third quarter. Twice, the Redhawks had opportunities to get within 5 or 6 points.

But on a night when little went its way, Naperville Central couldn't get any closer. Bolingbrook defeated the Redhawks 54-39 to advance to the Class 4A Lewis University supersectional at 7 p.m. Monday against Montini.

"Here's the problem," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "With every team in every sport at every level, you can't simulate in practice what the other team does. There's a certain degree to which you can talk about it, but we don't have anybody that quick to play against.

"I thought after we took a few punches early and got down, we played them pretty even," he added. "But the beginning of the game hurt us, and then we had a couple of things go against us. Now we have to gamble, and things unraveled pretty quickly."

Bolingbrook (24-4) made its first two 3-point attempts and led by as many as 16 points midway through the second quarter before Naperville Central started to close the gap. Two Mia Lakstigala free throws capped a 13-5 run spanning six minutes of the second and third quarters.

The Redhawks trailed only 37-29 on a Lakstigala 3-pointer with fewer than 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter. But Bolingbrook's Gabriella Smith buried a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the Raiders' lead to 11.

"The 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter was just a dagger," Nussbaum said. "We're down 8, we feel like one basket can get us within two scores. Then after the 3-pointer, they had a three-point play to start the fourth quarter.

"A lot of things didn't go our way that we needed to go our way," he added. "We didn't shoot the ball as well as we usually do. We probably hurried a little bit, and as I told the girls, whether that's on them or whether that's on us, we'll never know."

Lakstigala had 20 points to lead Naperville Central, which got 9 points from Lucy Schmid and 5 points from Abigail Kincaide. Gabriella Smith led Bolingbrook with 17 points, including three 3-pointers.

Naperville Central exited the state tournament at 28-6. According to Nussbaum, the 28 wins is the second most by a Naperville Central team that did not have a player named Candace Parker on it.

"We don't have anything to be ashamed of," Nussbaum said. "I wish we had won. I wish we had played a little better. I'm sadder that it's over than I am that we lost. When you feel as elated as we felt last Friday night, it hurts tonight to see it get away.

"Whether (Bolingbrook) earned it or whether we let it go doesn't matter," he added. "It hurts."

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