DGN Girls Bow to Wheaton North in Tourney Quarterfinals

Downers North's girls basketball team fell behind 19-4 at one point during the first quarter of Tuesday's quarterfinal matchup against host Wheaton North at the Falcon Holiday Classic.

The Trojans fought back in the second quarter to make a game of it. However, the Falcons turned North away with a 14-0 third-quarter run to win 61-36 and eliminate the Trojans from the championship round.

After the game, Wheaton North coach Dave Eaton said his team's plan was to prevent DGN from setting up its offense. They succeeded, as the Trojans committed nine first-quarter turnovers—four in the first three minutes—while sprinting out to a 10-0 lead.

"We wanted to speed them up a little bit, and try to get out and pressure the ball," Eaton said. "We've seen them a couple of times before. They run a lot of set plays and we wanted to make them make plays rather than letting them run set plays. Our kids did a good job of making them get out and make plays."

"Wheaton North, credit them," said Downers North coach Leslie Dehn. "They're a good team. They were really pressuring us, and it was a little too much for us today."

The Falcons (9-2) frustrated Downers North throughout the game with tenacious, man-to-man defense, often double-teaming whoever had possession of the ball. But the Trojans (7-4) managed to cut Wheaton North's lead to 26-21 at intermission by outscoring the Falcons, 13-7.

Downers North went on a 7-2 run to end the quarter, and senior guard Katie Hunzinger capped the run with a driving layup just before the halftime buzzer. Deadly free-throw shooting, which has been a trademark for Downers North all season, also kept the Trojans in the game throughout the first half. North was 12 of 14 from the line.

"It was 19-4 in the first quarter," Dehn said. "You take that away, and it's a different ballgame at the end. We had a nice little comeback going into half. We're feeling fairly confident in our offense when we're able to execute it well. We weren't able to get in sync coming down the floor, and they were really pressuring Hunzinger. That being said, we stayed with them the first half."

Then came the third quarter. A 7-0 Wheaton North run made it 33-21. Dehn called a timeout, but the Falcons proceeded to go on another 7-0 run and built up a 40-21 advantage.

Our kids battled; they played hard," Dehn said. "I don't know how many points they had in the third quarter, and we had 10 (actually six) and you won't win the game with that."

Amelia Echemann, a senior forward, led the Trojans with 13 points—11 of which were free throws. Alison Schuster chipped in with nine points, while Hunzinger had eight points and seven rebounds.

"We know what we've got to work on," Dehn said, "and we'll work on that for the rest of the tournament and the rest of the season."

Wheaton North 61, Downers North 36

Downers North—M. Echemann 2 0-0 5, Costello 0 0-0 0, Sczepanik 0 0-0 0, Hunzinger 2 4-6 8, Jones 0 0-0 0, Lutz 0 0-0 0, Jirka 0 0-0 0, A. Echemann 1 11-12 13, Worobey 0 0-0 0, Schuster 3 3-4 9, Puccini 0 1-2 1. Totals 8-38 19-24 36.

Wheaton North—Stewart 0 2-3 2, Casey 0 0-0 0, Togami 0 0-0 0, C. Graham 0 0-0 0, Vine 8 2-2 20, Schanowski 0 0-0 0, Sharkey 1 0-2 2, Baillie 3 1-2 7, L. Graham 2 0-0 4, Weatherred 0 0-0 0, Traversa 9 0-0 22, Pierce 0 0-0 0, Hillman 2 0-0 4, Obert 0 0-0 0. Totals 25-45 4-5 61.

Score by quarters

Downers North       8   13    6         9—36

Wheaton North      19   7     20     15—61

Three-point field goals: Downers North 1 (M. Echemann), Wheaton North 7 (Vine 2, Baillie, Traversa 4). Fouls: Downers North 11, Wheaton North 19. Rebounds: Downers North 24, Wheaton North 23. Turnovers: Downers North 20, Wheaton North 13.