Oswego East Rallies to Beat Naperville North in OT

Oswego East's Brittney Glende knows what it takes to battle back.

The senior suffered a concussion in a game earlier this year, and early in Saturday's game she wasn't able to do much in the way of scoring points. But when she finally did deliver, it was her 3-pointer that helped the Wolves overcome a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit and beat Naperville North in overtime, 66-62.

"She's mentally tough and she also hit a huge shot for us last night (against Oswego)," Oswego East coach Nate Eimer said. "Tonight she struggled, but I would want the ball in her hands even if she's 0-for-20 and it's the end of the ballgame because she'll take it and knock it down."

Oswego East (7-3) trailed 51-44 with less than seven minutes remaining when Glende pulled the Wolves to within 51-47 with 6:42 left. 

The Wolves rallied and tied the score at 53-53 midway through the final quarter on a basket by Venita Parsons (8 points).

"I thought Brittney hitting the three to bring us back was a huge momentum swing," Eimer said. "But give our kids some credit; I was not happy with their effort in the first half but then they came down and hit shots and got stops."

Naperville North (3-6) led by as many as five points in the opening half, taking a 21-16 lead almost midway through the second quarter on a driving layup by Zoe Swift (6 points). But Oswego East fought back, ultimately tying the game right before halftime at 30-30 on a pair of free throws from Parsons.

Ameera George's (12 points) basket in the final minute allowed the Wolves to tie the Huskies at 57-all and send the game into overtime.

The Wolves converted only 22 of 38 free throws, but they went to the charity stripe for 10 more free throws than the Huskies, who also struggled at the stripe with a 13-for-28 performance.

Parsons, Grende and Blair Arneasa, who led the Wolves with 23 points, all sank a pair of free throws apiece in the final two minutes of overtime to allow the Wolves to finish their afternoon victorious.

"It's been a great week for us and we had a big wakeup call against Minooka," Eimer said. "The team has responded, which is really what this is all about, and you have to keep coming back every day and trying to get better, and that's what we're doing right now, and hopefully we can keep it rolling."

Shannon Bushman did everything she could to keep the Huskies close, finishing with a game-high 26 points. She added 10 rebounds. Jenna Jatczak added a dozen points and a dozen rebounds for the Huskies.