Girls Basketball: Freshman powers Hinsdale Central past Naperville Central

Updated: November 15, 2011 9:51PM

Hinsdale Central freshman Gabrielle Rush is going to break a lot of hearts during her basketball career. Tuesday, it was Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum’s.

Rush scored 29 points, including a three-pointer with 3:26 remaining to play that gave the Red Devils the lead for good, as Hinsdale Central stunned No. 19 Naperville Central 63-56 in both teams’ opener Tuesday in Hinsdale.

The freshman’s heroics denied Nussbaum his 500th career win.

“That kid (Rush) is pretty good,” Nussbaum said. “One of my girls said she saw her play before and that she could hit three’s, so I knew she was good. But I didn’t think she was that good.”

Rush, who added nine rebounds and three steals, also made eight of 10 free throws in the final 2:55 to turn back the RedHawks.

“I practice free throws so much,” Rush said. “My dad always shoots outside with me. He puts pressure on me.”

Something Naperville Central was unable to do.

“I scored a lot in middle school,” Rush said. “The biggest difference is that the girls are so much bigger and stronger in high school. But our team has been working so hard during practice trying to come back from a rough season last year. I think we really deserved this.”

Five-foot-11 sophomore Maddie Roglich added 17 points forHinsdale Central, which was 3-26 last season. Jill D’Amico scored 15 points and Emma Donahue had 11 for Naperville Central, which overcame an early 16-5 deficit to lead 33-25 early in the third quarter.

“We were so ragged offensively in the first and fourth quarters,” Nussbaum said. “But the second and third quarters, we scored 42 points. That’s how we’re supposed to look. I think we just didn’t give Emma Donohue the ball enough. We were talking about it, but talk is cheap.

“The first three minutes of the fourth quarter were just awful,” he added. “We made some really questionable turnovers and we missed some shots that we got to make. If we’re up six or eight with four minutes to go, then the whole game is totally different.”

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