Glenbard North finishes against Glenbard South
Looking at both teams' schedules, one might think that this game might not shoot high up on the excitement meter.
Glenbard North traveled to District 87 colleague Glenbard South on Tuesday night. It's a nonconference battle, and the last game before the two teams start play at the Wheaton North holiday tournament Monday.
But one should always judge a game on the court as Glenbard North held off the Raiders 40-36 in an intense competition that went down to the wire.
"The last couple of seasons, we would be in close games. But we could not finish. It's nice to be able to pull out these wins," said Glenbard North's Brianna Harn. Harn, the team's lone senior, led all scorers with 19 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.
And the Panthers (7-4) needed to pull this game out in the fourth after the Raiders (7-5), who scored 11 points the first two quarters, exploded for 21 in the third to lead 32-28 after 24 minutes.
Glenbard South held on to its advantage until just more than three minutes left in the game when Harn stole the ball and made the subsequent layup to put her team up 35-34.
The Panthers went on to miss their first six free-throw attempts of the final period and lose a chance to ice the game early. But it would make three of its last four attempts with 20 seconds left in the contest. Glenbard South senior Patrice Hicks sandwiched a putback bucket between pairs of those Panthers free-throw shots to pull the Raiders to within 38-36 with 8.7 seconds left.
Glenbard North coach John Chamberlain would have liked his team to take control of the game and keep control. But he spoke well of how the Panthers responded to the Raiders late in the game.
"Once we got down, that sparked them and they were able to pull it out," he said.
Glenbard North's Amy Falson also finished in double digits with 10 points.
After going 4 of 13 from the field during the first two quarters, Glenbard South went 7 of 14 during the third quarter. Ivana Markovic turned a steal into a basket, and Tomei Ball converted a layup to give the Raiders their 32-28 margin at the end of the third quarter. Ball led Glenbard South on the scoresheet with 9 points, and Hicks added 8.
Coach Julie Fonda was pleased with her team's effort in the third quarter, but not the rest of the game.
"Our effort was poor. I challenged them at halftime and they responded, but they needed to sustain it," she said.
Both coaches are generally pleased with their teams' progress as the season has unfolded and holiday tournament competition nears.
"Glenbard South is successful every year and we come into their place and win. Hopefully, we can carry that into next week," Chamberlain said.
"We've grown a lot. There's still room for improvement," Fonda said. "We've had ups and downs with being so young. But the effort was always there. Tonight it wasn't. I challenged them that their effort won't be that poor again."