It’s game one of the Naperville Central/Benet tip-off tournament, with a Friday night contest between the Naperville Central girls basketball and the Oswego Panthers. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Oswego gets out to a 10-point lead
There’s action from the jump as Emerson Burke steals the ball and drives it to the basket, only to be sent out of bounds by Peyton Johnson.
Erin Hackett on the attack for the Redhawks. She gets the defender to jump and knocks down an 18-foot mid-range jumper as Naperville Central leads 5-1.
The give-and-go works perfectly for the Panthers as Kendall Grant feeds the cutting Ahlivia East for two.
Off the inbound, Ashley Cook hits a corner three, giving the Panthers some early life and leading 9-5.
Cook, now facilitating, finds the cutting East on the fast break, which leads to a Naperville Central timeout.
Cook continues her first-quarter dominance with another three from the top of the key as the Panthers have a 16-6 lead.
Naperville Central brings it within one
At the start of the second quarter, Hackett nearly gets the basket to drop but is fouled on the play; at the line, she makes both free throws.
Grant swats the driving layup from Hackett as the Panthers’ defense continues to make the Redhawks work for points.
On the second of two shots from the charity stripe for East, the ball rolls off the rim, and Grant is there for the offensive rebound and scores. Oswego leads 24-18 as the Redhawks call a timeout.
Naperville Central gets two offensive rebounds, and in the end, Hackett drains the trey ball, as Central trails by three.
With good ball movement, the Panthers find Maggie Voller open for three as they answer with one of their own.
More good ball movement from the Panthers gets Denaja Gatson her first basket of the game.
Hackett attacks the basket again and is fouled; this time, she gets the two and converts the and-one at the line as Naperville Central trails 30-28 at the half.
A dominant finish for the Redhawks
Momentum changed on this play as Eleni Nicoloudes grabs the offensive rebound and finds Tessa Williams for three, and with that, the Redhawks get their first lead since the beginning of the first quarter.
With her second three in back-to-back possessions, Williams gets the feed from Annabelle Kritzer, and the Naperville Central lead grows to 38-34.
Up 52-40 to start the fourth, the Redhawks are looking to put this one away. The Panthers however, cut the lead to single digits with Mengerink’s third three of the game as the lead is cut to single digits.
Nicoloudes gets back-to-back baskets as those just about puts the game away for the Redhawks. Hackett leads the night in scoring, and Nicoloudes grabs double-digit rebounds en route to a Naperville Central girls basketball 62-50 win against Oswego.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
