Downers Grove North captures its first Lady Saxons Classic championship

SCHAUMBURG – Downers Grove North’s girls basketball team has been a regular visitor to the Lady Saxons Thanksgiving Classic at Schaumburg High School for a while now.

On Friday, the Trojans handed their fans a first.

Led by sophomore standout Campbell Thulin’s game-high 23 points including five 3-pointers, DGN came back from an early deficit to register a 48-23 triumph over the hosts and its first title in the 35th annual event.

The Trojans completed a 5-0 run in the round-robin event. They lost to Schaumburg for the title a year ago.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Trojans senior co-captain and three-year varsity captain Abigail Gross. “We knew we had to come out and play hard against Schaumburg, because they’re our biggest rival in this tournament. They’re a good team. We came out and showed what we could do on defense and offense.”

Offense was the name of the game in the first quarter.

After three 3-pointers by Taline Abousamra and one from Olivia Dudek gave the Saxons a 12-6 lead, Thulin joined in on the long-range shooting. The Trojans’ co-captain went on her own 11-0 run with three 3-pointers and a driving bank shot to give DGN a 17-12 lead after one quarter.

“It’s not me,” said the modest Thulin. “My teammates are a huge part of everything. They are amazing. They move to get open. They set screens. They do everything right and are always working to get everyone open.

“It’s awesome.”

Lauren Olson’s driving layup to start the second quarter made it 19-12, and Schaumburg would never get closer.

DGN finished the half on a 23-0 run, as five different players (Thulin, Olson, Gross, junior Elizabeth Murphy and junior Adysen Fanta) had baskets in a second quarter where the Trojans outscored Schaumburg 12-0.

“I challenged the kids a little after that first quarter,” said DGN coach Stephan Bolt. “It was tough to give up three 3-pointers to one player. One was enough. And Campbell (Thulin) stepped up to shut that down from there on. A shutout quarter was kind of a good way to bounce back. And then we started making some shots on the offensive end.”

The Trojans outscored the Saxons 19-14 in the second half, giving up just four points in the final quarter. Gross scored the final basket for DGN when she tossed home a 3-pointer with 1:39 left.

“Defensively, she (Gross) continues to set the tone for us,” Bolt said. “And she has grown into more of an offensive scorer and threat, which is something we need her to do.”

“We really focused on our defense like we always do,” Gross said. “That’s our main priority no matter what. We have to have everyone on our team contribute equally. If that doesn’t happen, it’s not going to go well, but we did a good job getting back on defense.”

Murphy, an all-tourney selection with Fanta and tourney MVP Thulin, added 12 points for DGN.

All-tourney selection Abousamra led Schaumburg (2-3) with 11 points, while sophomore Martha White added five. Junior Sophia Snow was also all-tourney for the Saxons.

“We definitely had a lot of positives coming out of this one,” said Schaumburg first-year coach Katie Alyward. “We played super hard, especially in the second half. They could have just given up. I’m super proud of the effort.”

Thulin’s effort with 23 points was her second best of the young season. She had 29 vs. Maine West in the Trojans’ second game of the tourney.

“For a sophomore, she is a heck of a player,” Aylward said of Thulin whose career-high was 17 as a freshman. “We knew that going into it. We tried to do as much as we could on her, but she is a good player. You definitely must give her credit for that.

“We obviously have a lot of stuff to work on, but we had a lot of positives, too.”

The Trojans hope to keep things on a positive note with some tough games ahead against York, Nazareth Academy, Lyons Township and Maine South.

“We’ll see what we are made of after that,” Bolt said. “We still have a lot of work to do in terms of moving when the ball moves. We’re a little inexperienced defensively, and we have some work to do.”

They’ll be doing that work, though, with a Thanksgiving tourney championship behind them.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241129/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-thulins-23-points-help-downers-grove-north-win-1st-saxon-classic/