The girl considered the best who ever played the game of basketball in this state exited the way she entered–a winner.
Candace Parker, who dominated the first high school game she ever played back in November of 2000, scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Naperville Central to a 48-37 victory over New Trier on Saturday night at Redbird Arena and give the Redhawks back-to-back Class AA state titles.
Naperville Central has been unbeatable with Parker in the lineup the last two seasons. Last season she played in 34 games of the team’s 35-0 season. After missing the Redhawks’ first 11 games this season while recovering from a torn ACL, she was 24-0 for 58 consecutive victories before heading to Tennessee.
And Central (33-2), which was the first Class AA team to win back-to-back titles since Loyola in 1997 and 1998, wound up on a 30-game winning streak.
After the game, Parker went right up to the stands to hug her mother Sara and father Larry. “This is just the conclusion of a great year,” Parker said. “It’s unbelievable.”
She finished her career with 2,758 points and set a Class AA championship-game record with eight blocks. Tiffany Hudson added 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Deirdre Naughton’s 12 points led New Trier, which was trying to avenge a loss to Naperville Central in the championship game of the Dundee-Crown holiday tournament on Dec. 30.
Central’s Rachel Crissy thinks it was much tougher getting through the 2004 primaries to another title game, and said after the semifinal victory over Marian Catholic, “It’s harder than winning it the first time, especially when we’ve won, what, 29 in a row? Expectations, so much expectations of Candace and people want to beat you bad.”
Parker matched that 16 points in the first half of the championship game as the two teams combined for only 35–the lowest in Class AA title-game history. She scored her team’s first 10 points as the Redhawks took a 10-8 lead.
Freshman Jenny Samuelson’s three-pointer gave New Trier its only lead of the game at 11-10 with 5:53 left in the second quarter. Then Central went on a 13-1 run–five points from Tiffany Hudson, six from Parker–to lead 23-12 at the half. On the defensive end Parker had six blocks, six rebounds and two steals as New Trier made only five of 27 shots–18.5 percent.
The Redhawks extended their lead to 37-23 entering the fourth quarter. Hudson and Crissy each came up with three-pointers, and Parker scored her team’s last six points of the third quarter.
Of the two finalists, New Trier had a more difficult task in the semifinals–defeating Fenwick for a third time in three games this season. The Trevians almost let a six-point lead slip away but held off Fenwick 38-35 behind Deirdre Naughton’s 16 points and Maddie Johnson’s eight points, nine rebounds and six steals.
