On Thursday, Feb. 20, the Naperville North varsity girls basketball team faced the Benet Academy Redwings in the regional final and endured a season-ending loss.
The Huskies (17-15) lost to the Redwings (28-2) by a score of 64-13.
The Huskies started off the game by losing the opening tip and had a hard time recovering after that. The Redwings’ full court pressed the Huskies on almost every possession, and the Huskies struggled to get their offense going. The Redwings started nailing a lot of shots, and the Huskies had no response. The only offense the Huskies had in the first quarter was two free throws by junior guard Natalie Frempong (1). The Huskies quickly found themselves struggling to keep up, as the score was 17-2 Redwings at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Frempong started off the scoring with a layup, but the Huskies were unable to build off that energy. The Redwings kept pushing the pace and got a lot of shots to fall, making it tough for the Huskies to keep up. Junior guard Sam Kelly (11) got a huge layup near the end of the half, but the Redwings were able to respond with a 3-pointer of their own, with the Redwings in the lead with a score of 28-6 heading into the half. Frempong comments on the Huskies’ plan going into the second half.
“We knew that we had to keep our heads up. Keeping our heads down wasn’t gonna help us out of the situation. Just continue to do what we’re better at,” Frempong said.
In the second half, the Redwings started off the scoring and continued their dominance from the first half. The Huskies started to move the ball better, and freshman guard Sydney Smith (14) started to get some shots to fall for the Huskies. The Redwings did not let the Huskies get into a rhythm and continued to push the lead further out of reach. The Redwings were forcing a lot of turnovers, which led to a lot of quick transition scores. The Huskies’ offensive struggles continued, and the Huskies went into the fourth quarter down 45-11. Frempong started off the fourth quarter driving to the rim, getting fouled, and hitting both free throws. Those two free throws would ultimately sum up the scoring for the Huskies as the Redwings kept putting the pressure on. The Redwings’ offensive success continued throughout the rest of the game and would finalize the final score of 64-13. Smith remarks on what the team discussed during the timeouts.
“Just keep our energy up and comebacks happen so we can always just comeback and just keep doing what we were doing cause we were playing really hard,” Smith said.
After all the obstacles that the Huskies overcame, Head Coach Aly Miller elaborates on how she thought the team performed overall this season.
“We look back on the season, we had a lot of bumps in the road, lots of injuries at different times of the year, lots of illnesses that hit our way you know like any team does … I feel like the way we persevered and rallied together was a true testament to our character and who they are,” Miller said.
