NAPERVILLE – Maybe the Wheaton North girls basketball team has destiny on its side.

How else to explain the way the Falcons captured the DuPage Valley Conference championship?

Wheaton North made only three baskets, none of which were 2-pointers, and shot just seven percent from the floor against second-place Naperville Central in the de facto DVC championship game Feb. 4.

Yet the Falcons beat the Redhawks 30-29 to clinch their first conference title since 2010.

“It was crazy,” Wheaton North junior Hannah Swider said. “I couldn’t believe it.

“Both teams fought the entire game. It was a battle to the end and we came out with it.”

The Falcons (20-4, 14-0) didn’t score a basket until Matti Zander drained a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter. They shot just 1 for 22 in the first half and 3 for 39 overall, and trailed from early in the second quarter until the final seconds before pulling yet another victory from the jaws of defeat.

It was Wheaton North’s seventh straight win and 19th in its last 20 games. Seven wins have been by seven points or less.

“It’s really just about who wants it more,” Swider said. “You got to battle to the end and you know the game is not over until that clock says zero. We just fought all the way to the end.”

Indeed, the Falcons stayed in the game thanks to great defense, limiting the Redhawks (21-8, 12-3) to 16 percent shooting, and won at the end thanks to Swider, who scored the game’s final five points. Swider finished with nine points to share team-high scoring honors with sophomore Nikki Baird, but she had missed her first nine shots before she drained an open 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to pull the Falcons to within 29-28.

“My confidence was kind of low,” Swider said. “I was just getting frustrated with my shot not going in because I practice so much. But my teammates kept reminding me, ‘You got this, we got your back.’

“When I made the three, I was really just thanking the Lord. I was really excited for that and then we came out of the timeout and everyone was saying we’ve got to calm down, we’ve been here before plenty of times.”

The Falcons forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass and Swider was fouled with 7.5 seconds to go. She sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to cap the scoring and finish a perfect 6 for 6 from the line.

The Redhawks had two cracks at the game-winning basket, but a driving layup by star Mia Lakstigala rimmed out with two ticks left and a last-ditch 17-footer by Lucy Schmid was short.

“We talked about grit,” Wheaton North coach David Eaton said. “They’ve got a lot of grit. They just find ways to win. It’s different people in different situations.”

Sarah Topps added five points and eight rebounds while Sophie Ahlberg had four points and two steals and Zander three points and 10 boards in what turned out to be a championship win.

“I don’t even have words to describe our feelings right now,” Swider said. “We were chanting in the locker room. It was crazy.”