Second-half effort

Prairie Ridge’s Kelsey Bear tries to block a shot by Dundee-Crown’s Ali Sanders in the second quarter Wednesday. The Wolves defeated the Chargers, 44-41. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@shawmedia.com)

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CARPENTERSVILLE – Prairie Ridge looked at the 29 points it surrendered in the first half to Dundee-Crown with disdain.

More importantly, the Wolves did something about it.

Prairie Ridge played one of its best defensive halves this season to battle from behind and upset Dundee-Crown, 44-41, in their Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls basketball game Wednesday night.

The Wolves (8-12 overall, 3-6 FVC Valley) ended their five-game losing streak and put D-C (14-8, 7-2) into a first-place tie in the division with Cary-Grove (6-1).

“It means a lot,” said Wolves guard Haleigh Danek, who led her team with 11 points. “It was a lot of fun. We’ve had a long losing streak. We’ve been in that slump, so this feels so good. We came together and we wanted that win.”

Former Prairie Ridge coach Julie Bemis resigned last week, citing personal reasons. Assistant coach Jeff Boldog was named interim coach for the rest of the season and sophomore coach Rob Baker will assist him.

“We’re playing through a lot of adversity,” Boldog said. “We just want to move forward together as a unit. In the second half, we played ferocious defense. [D-C] is a really good ball team. Our girls did a great job.”

Prairie Ridge held D-C to 12 second-half points and forced 14 of the Chargers’ 23 turnovers after halftime. Nine of those turnovers came in the fourth quarter as the Wolves chipped away at the lead.

D-C led the entire game until Danek hit an 18-footer with 4:31 remaining to tie the score at 39.

After the teams traded two turnovers each, Danek got loose on the left wing and stuck a three-pointer for the Wolves’ first lead with 1:37 remaining.

“That was all my teammates,” Danek said. “They got me open and Kelsey [Bear] got me the ball.”

Bear added a pair of free throws with 30 seconds to go for a 44-41 lead. D-C’s Carlin Faulkner, who led all players with 15 points, missed a three-point attempt in the final seconds as the Wolves hung on.

“We’ve had some downs, some dry spots,” Prairie Ridge guard Brianne Fenton said. “We came out and took it to them. We wanted to show what we are really made of.”

D-C had a 27-18 lead late in the first half, but the Wolves got a three-pointer from Sarah LeBeau with 22 seconds remaining in the half and three free throws from Danek as time expired to cut the lead to 29-24.

The Wolves then carried that momentum into the second half.

“They had a lot more intensity than we did,” Chargers coach Michelle Russell said. “We have to handle the ball a little better. They did a good job on Ali [Sanders].”

Sanders, D-C’s leading scorer at 15 points a game, finished with 11.

Although the loss hurt D-C’s chances in the FVC Valley, the Chargers still have another game remaining with C-G and Huntley, the other two contenders.

“Now we just have to fight harder to get to that position,” Russell said.