Girls Basketball: Naperville North recovers from slow start
BY PAUL JOHNSON For Sun-Times Media January 3, 2013 10:26PM
Naperville North's Cece Pope battles for a rebound with Glenbard East's Allison Hanson. | Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 5, 2013 6:14AM
It seems like Naperville North’s girls basketball team is perpetually missing a player this season, and Thursday was no different.
Due to club soccer obligations, senior point guard Zoe Swift missed Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference game against Glenbard East. And sophomore Kayla Sharples sat out the first quarter after she missed time due to other obligations over the holiday break.
Glenbard East took advantage early on, taking a nine-point lead after a quarter. But once Sharples got into the game, the Huskies took off, holding Glenbard East scoreless in the second quarter and improving to 8-7 overall with a 38-33 win.
“We didn’t have Zoe tonight, so everything offensively is more difficult, but it’s great to see girls stepping up,” North coach Jacquie Discipio said. “It’s not perfect yet, but we are getting better and the girls are learning to compete along the way. They all know how to compete. They compete in other sports, so it’s nice to see it translate to basketball.”
With their two top players out in the first quarter, the Huskies stayed afloat with six points from Laurel Pereira. But Glenbard East (2-12, 0-4 DVC) ended the quarter on a 15-2 run to take a 15-6 lead into the second quarter.
That’s when Sharples entered the game, and that’s when things started to go the way of Naperville North (8-7, 1-2). The Huskies held the Rams scoreless for 9:54, turning a nine-point deficit to a three-point lead (18-15) early in the third quarter. Sharples scored seven points in that span and started to control the boards.
“After a quarter of sitting out, it’s hard to come back in, but I kept on shooting and most of them went in,” Sharples said. “They were beating us in the first quarter on layups. We were able to force them to shoot outside shots, so we stopped them there.”
After Glenbard East took a 21-18 lead in the third, North responded with a 9-0 run — the final six points of which were scored by Sharples — to take control of the game. Though the lead never reached double digits, the Huskies were able to keep Glenbard East at arm’s length for the win.
Sharples wound up with 15 points and 12 rebounds in her three quarters of work.
