Naperville Central junior center Annabelle Kritzer knew she wasn’t the main attraction on Thursday. That didn’t stop her from stealing the show.
Many in the large crowd came to see two of the best players in the state, and Naperville Central senior guard Trinity Jones and Waubonsie Valley senior guard Danyella Mporokoso didn’t disappoint.
But the 6-foot-4 Kritzer provided a compelling bonus track to the proverbial soundtrack.
“It was a super fun environment to play in,” Kritzer said. “The whole stands was filled. It was loud, and there was people cheering for both teams, and it was just a fun experience. I’m glad I got to be a part of it.”
Kritzer played a big part in the outcome, finishing with 20 points and a game-high 18 rebounds as the host Redhawks, who are ranked No. 6 in Class 4A in the poll by The Associated Press, upended the previously unbeaten No. 2 Warriors 75-60 in Naperville to take control in the DuPage Valley Conference.
The Redhawks (17-3, 5-0), who stopped Waubonsie Valley’s 35-game regular-season unbeaten streak and 25-game conference winning streak, led 47-21 at halftime. The Warriors (18-1, 4-1) trailed by as many as 28 points in the third quarter.
“I’m just really proud of our girls,” Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. “I thought we were playing team basketball, and team basketball doesn’t mean everybody gets equal shots. But we got the ball to the people we needed to get the ball to.”
That included the 6-2 Clemson-bound Jones, who scored 32 points, as well as senior point guard Erin Hackett. That duo has done the bulk of the scoring this season.
But this time Kritzer got in the act while dominating the glass at both ends of the floor.
“That’s probably Annabelle’s best offensive performance of her career,” Nussbaum said. “We present a problem for them because we’ve got two tall players out there, and they only have one.
“So of course they’ve got to give Trinity attention, so I was super happy with the way Annabelle played. She was on the offensive boards, and I thought both Trinity and Erin found her when she was open.”
Kritzer was rarely open during the Redhawks’ 65-49 loss to Loyola on Jan. 5. But she was against the Warriors and was calling for the ball.
“This game was an exciting game,” Kritzer said. “We’ve been looking forward to it all week, and we just came out strong. We did really well passing. Credit my teammates for getting me the ball, and I’m super excited about this win.”
Hackett, a Carthage commit, had 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals against Waubonsie Valley, which got 23 points from Illinois State-bound Mporokoso. Most of Hackett’s assists went to Kritzer, who scored repeatedly in the lane.
“The positioning on defense really worked out just to help her get those rebounds,” Hackett said. “We put her in a good position to do that, and she obviously executes those rebounds every game.
“I feel like she has double-digit rebounds almost every game, so that’s really helpful, and her making her layups today and doing some post moves just really helped us out with getting that lead.”
While Kritzer is still growing into her substantial athleticism, she’s starting to become a strong force on offense.
“The biggest thing we’ve been working on with her is keeping the ball up because she’s so tall,” Hackett said. “So instead of bringing it down and getting those jump balls, she’s really kept it up and is putting it back. That was the biggest thing that helped her out.”
Kritzer made 7 of 10 shots, including all four attempts in the first half. One was a 3-pointer from the top of the key off an assist from Hackett that came during a 27-7 run.
“I haven’t made a three in a few games, so I’ve been wanting to do that,” Kritzer said. “I’ve been shooting a lot in practice, and so it was great to make that.”
Kritzer was so great defensively that she had just six fewer rebounds than the Warriors, who shot 7 for 33 in the first half while getting only one offensive rebound.
“We know she’s a rebounder, and we know she’ll go get the rebound,” Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love said. “We wanted to get more offensive rebounds.
“We didn’t do as well as we wanted to, but we knew we had to contend with her on the boards. That’s what she does best.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.