As the final seconds ticked down Saturday afternoon, one fan blurted out, “There’s a full moon tonight.”
But Neuqua Valley senior Kai Moon didn’t wait until nightfall to rise.
The Binghamton recruit erupted for 20 of her game-high 23 points in the second half to rally the visiting Wildcats past upset-minded Naperville North 57-47 in a DuPage Valley Conference thriller.
The performance could not have come at a better time for Neuqua (16-7, 10-3), which had lost three of its last four games and was in danger of falling out of the DVC race.
“It was a team effort,” Moon said. “I know in the first half they were in a zone and it was slowing us down because we didn’t really know how to attack it.
“Then in the second half we said we’ve got to be more aggressive, take it to the basket, try to get their posts in foul trouble, and that’s what we did.”
Moon was having a pedestrian game and Naperville North (10-11, 4-8) led 33-24 when she drove and hit the deck after being fouled by the Huskies’ 6-foot-4 center Sadie Jurkovic. Moon made the resulting free throws and everything else after that.
“Maybe we have to hit her on top of the head more,” Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams said jokingly. “It was a hard foul. It wasn’t bad or anything but I think that sparked her and I think it sparked the rest of the team,
After shooting 6-for-28 in the first half, the Wildcats got hot, with Moon sinking three 3-pointers and Myia Starks one.
“They were there so I said we’ve got to at least try to take them,” Moon said. “They weren’t falling in the first half but we got a fresh 16 minutes so I said, ‘Let’s try it and if I get hot, I get hot, and if I don’t I’ll try to take closer shots or pass off.'”
The Wildcats only missed two shots in the fourth quarter and finished 18-for-19 from the free-throw line, including 17 straight after intermission.
After Laurel Pereira tied the game at 43-43 with two free throws with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter, Courtlyn Smith scored inside to trigger a closing 14-4 spurt.
Neuqua’s full-court press produced three straight turnovers, including steals by Moon and Starks, who made 12 free throws down the stretch.
“We made all of them?” Moon asked. “Wow. In the past free throws have cost us games. This time I think it is what helped us out.
“We weren’t getting to the line enough in the first half, so second half we started doing more of that.”
Starks finished with 17 points, seven assists and five steals and Smith added 10 points and seven rebounds for Neuqua, which is a half-game behind Naperville Central in the DVC race.
Jurkovic was a big reason why the Wildcats weren’t getting near the basket. She registered seven of her eight blocks in the first half, two of them on 3-point attempts.
The sophomore finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Pereira had 14 points, six rebounds and five steals and Sophia Fumagalli added 12 points for the Huskies, who felt they deserved a better fate.
“I told my girls it’s the best game of the year we’ve played by far,” Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. “But you’ve got to give Neuqua credit. They finished the game the way you’re supposed to.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.
