Naperville North freshmen step up to beat West Aurora
Freshmen Abby Drendel and Layla Henderson might be in their first year at Naperville North, but the two played like they've been Huskies their entire lives during Thursday's Class 4A Yorkville regional championship game against West Aurora.
The Huskies needed that kind of effort and performance. They rallied from a 12-point deficit in the first half, beating the Blackhawks 49-43.
With their 12th straight victory, the Huskies (25-5) advance to face No. 2-seeded Bolingbrook or Plainfield South at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Benet sectional semifinal.
"What an exciting game, what a fun game," Huskies first-year coach Erin Colletti said. "A stressful game, so I'm glad it's over. I'm smiling. I could be crying."
She might have shed some tears if it were not for Drendel and Henderson each scoring 8 points in the decisive fourth quarter. The Huskies outscored the Blackhawks 18-5 after trailing 38-31 after three quarters.
"Abby was cool as ice from the free-throw line and Layla is like, 'What's this - a regional? No problem,'" Colletti said. "But that's what's great about being a freshman. For a senior you feel the pressure, but for (the freshmen) it's like, 'Well, it's an exciting game, but I'm going to play basketball the way I know how - be aggressive, finish strong and make my free throws and hit some big shots."
West Aurora (21-9) snagged three offensive rebounds on one trip down the floor and it culminated with Jalyssa Carrasco's basket with 6:20 to play to give the Blackhawks a 40-33 advantage.
It seemed like whenever the Huskies made a run, the Blackhawks answered to maintain their lead. But this time Henderson took over. In about a two-minute span, she drilled a 3-pointer, scored on a drive and then took a step back with 3:32 remaining to hammer home another 3-pointer, giving the Huskies a 41-40 lead with 3:32 left. It was their first lead.
"I don't know (about the go-ahead shot)," she said. "It was so weird. I didn't even think it was going to go in, but it worked. I was just really excited because I knew we had to do this for the seniors, especially because they've been obviously wanting this their entire time here."
Drendel then scored the final 8 points for the Huskes, including on a coast-to-coast rebound and layup with 1:35 left for a 45-41 lead. She also made six consecutive free throws, including four in the final 28.4 seconds.
"She's my free throw buddy at practice so we shoot them at the end of the practice every day so that translated to the game," Huskies junior Greta Kampschroeder said. "I knew she was going to hit those. I was really proud of her."
A year ago, Drendel wasn't sure if she'd attend Benet or Naperville North. Now she's a regional champ and will play at Benet next week.
"Greta always tells me to think about free throws as if they're a layup," she said. "Don't even think of it as hard as you do and that's really what I was doing over there on the line."
While Kampschroeder and West Aurora's Riley Mont both delivering as expected, it was the two freshmen, as well as sophomore Sarah Crossett who really stepped up for the Huskies.
"We had prepped for before the game that Riley (Mont) has got Greta, but we can't let the others go off," Blackhawks coach Teresa Waldinger said. "Unfortunately, we let a couple of them go off."
The Blackhawks scored the first 9 points of the game but could not hold on and beat a team that it defeated 48-45 in the season opener.
"We have a hard time playing four quarters and we played darned near four quarters," Waldinger said. "We played 30 minutes, I think, of solid basketball. Give credit to Naperville. They battled back and they were just grinding and they were gritty and usually it's us that's really gritty at the end."