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 2000, had 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots to lead defending Class AA champion Naperville Central over New Trier 48-37 Saturday at Redbird Arena.
Naperville Central has been unbeatable with the 6-foot-3-inch Parker in the lineup as a junior and senior. Last season she played in 34 games and the Redhawks finished 35-0. After missing the first 11 games this season while recovering from a torn ACL, she was 24-0. That’s 58 consecutive victories as she now heads for national power Tennessee.
And Central (33-2), which is 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 into the stands to hug her mother, Sara, and father, Larry. “We got the state championship, and nobody thought we would do it and everybody was hoping that we wouldn’t,” Parker said. “We battled through adversity and we got it.”
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She not only finished her career with 2,758 points but also set a Class AA championship game record with eight blocked shots and highest scoring average (28.7) for the finals. Senior Tiffany Hudson came through with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists on the court the Illinois State recruit will call home.
“I think this season was more of a struggle just because Candace was out with an injury,” Hudson said. “But we played together and we had team chemistry off the court. That is so important.”
Rachel Crissy, who finished with five points and now goes on to a college hockey career at Providence, thought it was tough too. After the Redhawks beat Marian Catholic in the semifinals, she said, “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 scored Central’s first 10 points, but it trailed 11-10 after freshman Jenny Samuelson’s three-pointer gave New Trier its only lead with 5 minutes 57 seconds left in the second quarter.
A Hudson jumper put Central ahead 12-11. Then she hit a three-pointer and the Redhawks went on a 13-1 run to end the half. The two teams combined for 35 points?the lowest scoring half in Class AA title game history.
Junior Deirdre Naughton’s 12 points led New Trier (31-7), which was trying to avenge a loss to Central in the championship game of the Dundee-Crown tournament on Dec. 30.
The Trevians just couldn’t solve Central’s defense in the first half. New Trier shot only 18.5 percent?5 for 27?from the field in the first half.
“I think we did the best we could,” Naughton said. “They just got some breaks and it wasn’t our day.”