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Naperville North starters earn a chance to rest

Kara Rivard couldn't wait to get out of Saturday afternoon's girls basketball game at Naperville North and go sit on the bench.

Rivard got her wish in Naperville North's 46-33 DuPage Valley Conference victory against visiting Waubonsie Valley.

Rivard, the Huskies' junior point guard, said the plan was hatched at halftime with Naperville North leading 22-13.

"When we were talking in the locker room, (we said) the first three minutes we've got to come out strong, extend the lead as much as we can, try to get those JV players in at the end of the game if we could," Rivard said, "which I'm so happy for them that that happened."

Waubonsie Valley junior forward Halle Williams put the Huskies' plan in jeopardy by opening the third quarter with what could have been a momentum-turning 3-pointer.

But the Huskies shoot it off, with Rivard giving Naperville North its first double-digit lead at 26-16 two minutes into the third period. A Greta Kampschroeder 3-pointer at 3:36 of the third made the score 34-19.

Huskies coach Jason Dycus pulled his starters with 2:51 left in the fourth quarter after they'd built a 46-29 lead.

Kampschroeder, a 6-foot sophomore, took on the bulk of the scoring load for the Huskies. She scored all 8 of their first-quarter points and finished with 28 for the game. She also grabbed 6 rebounds.

"Sometimes I think I kind of hold back offensively, so I just kind of watch some film, try to find different ways I could've been more aggressive offensively, gotten more baskets and drawn more fouls so I could've gone to the free-throw line more," she said. "I definitely feel I did a better job of that tonight and my teammates did a good job of moving the ball around so we could get that momentum."

As usual, Kampschroeder was the focus on an opponent's defense.

"Our game plan was to deny her the ball," Warriors coach Brett Love said. "Not let her get as many touches, not let her feel comfortable when she do decide to shoot it. But when she did get it, after missing a few she started going to the basket, which a good player will do. But ultimately we wanted somebody else to beat us."

The Huskies (14-9, 5-0) remained unbeaten in the DVC with three games to play, having taken their sixth victory in their last seven games. The three remaining DVC games include next Friday's rematch at cross-town rival Naperville Central (12-16, 4-1), which is just a game back.

"I'm very proud of the way that my team's been playing, especially for conference games," Rivard said. "We've been bringing our all, working as a team during these important games, is what we've been focusing on. I think that we've done a pretty good job executing it."

"We've got to keep it rolling," Kampschroeder added. "But we're doing good. We're getting better."

Lauren McKnight hit four 3-pointers to lead the Warriors in scoring with 12 points.

"We didn't shoot well, we didn't pass well," Love said. "We didn't execute well."

Freshman forward Sarah Crossett added 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists for Naperville North.

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