Glenbard East ends regular season with win vs. East Aurora

Glenbard East likes to celebrate senior night. A lot. And with eight seniors on the girls basketball roster for the Rams' best season since 2008-09, they had a lot to celebrate.

Glenbard East defeated visiting East Aurora 45-39 on Thursday in Lombard.

"We said this year we have an awesome team," Rams senior Ashley Brown said after joining her teammates on the court for a postgame line dance and some cake. "We had some juniors come up, do some good work off the bench. We said this year is going to be our year."

"They played well," Rams coach Don Finnie added. "It's senior night. They had fun. I let them play the game tonight, let them run up and down the court and do things. What they saw was not a normal game for us, just up-down, up-down."

The Rams finished the regular season in second place in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division with a 7-3 record. They head to the Class 4A Elk Grove regional Tuesday with a 18-10 overall record.

The Rams took the lead for good in the first quarter, scoring the final 8 points of the first quarter, then the first 2 points of the second to go ahead 18-8. Senior Brasia Solid, normally a starter, came off the bench to give Glenbard East a boost with 12 first-quarter points. She was the only Ram to finish in double figures with 22 points, adding 9 rebounds.

"She's been doing that now the last couple of games," Finnie said. "...She's been a force to be reckoned with."

East Aurora tried gamely to stay close, cutting the lead to 6 a few times, but the Tomcats never could take that next step to get closer still.

"The first half was a little sloppy, but we played through it. We said it's senior night, we have to play some defense," Brown said.

Bianca Esparza and Jeanette Villezcas scored 12 points apiece to lead East Aurora.

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