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Bartlett beats Naperville Central with the 3-point shot

Bartlett lived by the 3-pointer Saturday afternoon in Naperville.

Naperville Central lost by it.

The Hawks made 38 percent of their 3-point shots while holding the Redhawks to just 12 percent shooting from long distance. The result was a 51-32 Bartlett girls basketball victory at the Tip-Off Tournament.

"We're small," Bartlett coach Brad Hunt said. "I don't have a 6-footer on my team, so to go through the post is difficult. ... So we try to do the drive-and-kick kind of stuff, and if we can finish at the rim we will. But yeah, the 3-point shot, today it was working."

Bartlett made eight 3-pointers in the game, including 4-of-4 long-range shooting in the second quarter.

"Yeah, we like to shoot the 3-pointer a lot," Bartlett senior Teagan Noesen said with a laugh. "So when it wasn't falling we knew we just had to pick it up, cut back door, do fastbreak, and that really helped us tonight."

That didn't work out for Naperville Central (1-1), which struggled to 22 percent shooting overall.

"Our shooting was bad, and I guess we have to say credit the Bartlett defense," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "But particularly in the first half I thought we had some wide-open opportunities and just didn't get the ball in the basket."

The Hawks (1-1) didn't start the game very well, going scoreless for the first six-plus minutes and falling behind 8-0.

"I was really impressed with my girls' composure, not letting the early run get the best of them," Hunt said.

Shelly Banks' 7-foot shot in the lane started a 14-point Bartlett run. The Hawks tied the game at 8-8 after one quarter, then took a 6-point lead.

It was a sign of things to come.

"The energy tonight was really good and we knew that that was what we needed in order to play well," Noesen said. "We needed to come out as a team and move the ball, so the energy really helped."

Bartlett led 23-20 at halftime, but Naperville Central took a 25-23 lead early in the third quarter on a Lauren Umbright 3-pointer. That was the last Naperville Central highlight. Bartlett outscored the Redhawks 14-3 to finish the third quarter and kept the momentum going into the fourth.

"It's disappointing," Nussbaum said. "We've got to go back and look at the film and see what the problems were."

Freshman guard Mackenzie Hare led the Hawks with 15 points. Bartlett junior Alexis Sinclair notched a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore Justina Hernandez added 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Junior guard Emily Spisak led the Redhawks with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

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