Glenbard South hangs tough against ICCP
The defensive play that IC Catholic Prep brought to Glenbard South on Tuesday night was no surprise to Raiders coach Morgan Kasperek, and her girls basketball team needed to fight all the way before prevailing 29-24.
"IC is a good, strong, physical team that plays super-hard and that's why it was a close game," Kasperek said.
There was a moment late in the contest that allowed the Raiders (15-9, 9-2 Metro Suburban West) to finally get a grip on the game.
The Knights' Lillian Brown muscled her way through a crowd under the basket for a layup that cut the Raiders' lead to 20-17.
Kasperek called a timeout with 3:19 remaining in the contest.
With 2:57 left Glenbard South's Mady Carli drove through the lane for a layup for a 22-17 advantage. Then Ally Daca hit a free throw, then made good on a basket to push her team up 25-17.
With just more than a minute to play, IC's Sophie Zanoni made good on a 3-point basket to pull her team to with 25-20, but Glenbard South wasn't threatened after that.
"When Mady Carli hit that layup, things started opening up. We were 0 of 11 from the 3-point line and they started sagging inside on us. We were finally able to open that up," Kasperek said.
Raiders freshman Maggie Bair led all scorers with 11 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Knights (10-14, 3-9) scored the game's first basket when Brown stole the ball and made a crisp pass to Tess Reardon, who converted it into a layup. Glenbard South went on a 6-0 run to lead 6-2 at the end of the first quarter. The teams shot a combined 3 of 19 from the field.
Both teams improved on their shooting in the second quarter and Glenbard South led 17-11 at halftime. The Raiders went 4 of 5 from the free-throw line in the final 2:21 of the first half to keep the space between them and IC.
The third quarter saw the Raiders held to just one free throw and no field goals, but the Knights tallied just 4 points on 2-of-12 shooting. IC trailed just 18-15 at the end of 24 minutes.
"The last two weeks I think we've played six games. If we were to crash, tonight was that point," said IC coach Kelsey James. "I was pleased with our defense at times. We strive to be a good defensive team."
The Knights are done with conference play. They host St. Francis on Monday and head to Rosary on Wednesday to close out the regular season.
Glenbard South plays host to St. Charles North on Tuesday and then they have a shot Feb. 11 for at least part of the Metro Suburban West title if they can get a senior night win over Wheaton Academy to close the regular season.
"I think we're ready for the postseason. I would like to see us more consistent. On some nights we're ready, strong, physical, and not so much on other nights," Kasperek said.