The Naperville North High School varsity girls basketball team defeated Naperville Central High School on Wednesday, Dec. 14.

The Huskies (6-5) defeated the Redhawks (4-6) with a final score of 62-53.

The Huskies started off strong with a 9-0 run in the first two minutes of the game. After a few Central timeouts, they closed the gap to 13-20 after the first quarter. However, the Huskies’ strong players were too much to overtake with senior Layla Henderson and senior Abby Homan scoring 26 of the 35 points in the first half. The Huskies led at halftime with a score of 35-21. Homan emphasizes the high energy the team came into the game with.

“To be on the bench and to be cheering on our teammates. It was crazy. Everyone served their role tonight,” Homan said.

The Huskies never slowed down, adding heavy pressure on the Redhawks throughout the game. Their strong defense led to many turnovers by Central and easy baskets for the Huskies. As a result, the team put up 15 points in the third quarter. Homan notes that the team is not done improving from the matchup.

“Keep improving and doing what we’re doing. I think we really showcased it tonight, but just keep moving on,” Homan said.

The Huskies were unable to completely dominate all aspects of the game. Rebounding has been a continued struggle for the Huskies throughout the season. The team looks to improve their rebounding skills for future games. Henderson notes that the team uses defense to make up for in other skills that are not as strong.

“We’re not going to get every board. But we realized that we just have to make up for it in other ways, get steals, get deflections,” Henderson said.

The annual Crosstown matchup always results in a packed student section in support of the girls. Throughout the game, the rest of the team on the sidelines and the enthusiastic student section showed their support. Head Coach Erin Colletti explains why the energy was so beneficial for the team.

“We had more fans than we have had, on a Wednesday night, which was great.… That’s the type of basketball and the energy that we want the girls to have and it was a lot of fun,” Colletti said. 

The team will play their next game on Saturday, Dec. 17 against Carl Sandburg High School. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. at Carl Sandburg High School.