Kampschroeder and friends score win against Waubonsie Valley
Naperville North sophomore Greta Kampschroeder doesn't have to score a lot of points in order to dominate a game.
Oh, she was prolific, eventually, on offense Thursday night against Waubonsie Valley. But it was her all-around floor game that got the visiting Huskies in rhythm early in their 61-36 DuPage Valley Conference victory in Aurora.
Kampschroeder had only a fifth of her team's points in the first half, but her 6 assists and 4 steals were a big reason why Naperville North (4-1, 1-0) led 30-12 at halftime. She finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
"It's great to have that," Naperville North junior guard Nikki Kwilosz said. "Even if she isn't hitting shots, she's getting the ball to people.
"She's getting people open looks and her passes on fastbreaks are beautiful. I know she got me a couple layups on fastbreaks."
The fastbreaks came early and often for the Huskies, who registered assists on 15 of their 23 baskets and had 12 steals.
The first transition hoop came on the opening possession, when Kara Rivard made a steal and passed to Kampschroeder, who fed Kwilosz for a 3-pointer.
Kwilosz sank her first four shots and finished with 11 points. Letti Drummond and Kaitlyn Castillo each added 8 points and 3 steals for the Huskies, with Drummond pulling down 8 rebounds.
Most of that production came in the first half when Kampschroeder missed 8 consecutive shots and 10 of 11 at one point.
"Normally when my shot is not on I have to just take the wide-open shots and then I feel my role is getting my teammates the ball," Kampschroeder said. "Pushing the ball in the transition is something that we did very well.
"My teammates are really good at running the floor and I try to get them the perfect pass so they can finish, which is good."
The 6-foot Kampschroeder was brilliant with her distribution, at times waiting an extra beat for someone to get open and then threading the needle for a backdoor layup. In another instance she launched a full-court pass to set up a layup. Naperville North coach Jason Dycus called that pass a Division I-level play.
Waubonsie Valley (2-4, 0-1) played evenly with the Huskies in the third quarter but it did no good. Naperville North's balanced attack forced the Warriors to focus on multiple players and that left Kampschroeder open for pull-up jumpers and drives down the lane.
Kampschroeder tallied 16 of her points in the second half and sank her last 5 shots to finish 9 for 21. Ahniya Melton led the Warriors with 11 points, while Lauren McKnight added 8 points.
"(The Huskies) are great," Kampschroeder said. "That's how I get my points.
"I can't do it without them. They make good passes and we work on that in practice."
Kwilosz said Thursday's performance showed the Huskies at their best.
"We had pretty balanced scoring today," Kwilosz said. "When we're all balanced I think we're playing more as a team and not thinking about points or specific things.
"We're definitely looking around to see who's open and getting the ball up the floor. I'm excited."
So is Dycus.
"We did a lot of really good things," Dycus said. "Our defense was outstanding.
"We got a lot of deflections and a lot of steals and run-outs and the game becomes easier when you play great defense and rebound."