Glenbard North overcomes Schaumburg
If winning a basketball game was like a cooking recipe, the Glenbard North girls squad had all the right ingredients in defeating Schaumburg 46-37 Tuesday night in the second Class 4A Batavia regional semifinal.
The Panthers (17-10), seeded 11th in the Schaumburg sectional, used a great start, withstood a second-half challenge from the sixth-seeded Saxons and heated up their free-throw percentage to advance to Friday's regional final against the third-seeded hosts. Batavia dispatched 18th-seeded Addison Trail 69-39 in Tuesday's first semifinal contest.
"This is amazing. It's exciting. As a senior, I have never played in a regional final," said Jennifer Deegan, who led Glenbard North with 16 points and 7 rebounds.
The Panthers and Batavia did not face each other during the regular season.
Glenbard North led 24-11 at halftime with the Saxons (16-12) struggling offensively, shooting 5 of 21 from the field. That changed in the third quarter as Schaumburg's shooting heated up to 50 percent.
Laura O'Connell, who scored a game-high 20 points, sank a pair of free throws to pull Schaumburg within single digits of the Panthers at 29-21. Teammate Kayla Patterson's layup put the Saxons to 31-25 at the end of the period.
"We were able to hit a couple of shots and that sparked our intensity," said Schaumburg coach Curtis Goodwin.
Glenbard North worked its way back up to a double-digit advantage in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. A putback by Lexi Ross cut the Panthers' lead to 40-33 with 2:40 remaining. But that's as close as Schaumburg got.
Mallory Gerber followed O'Connell on the scoresheet with 9.
"We knew we had to block out the shooters," said Lauren Lee, who scored 12 points for Glenbard North. "They're bigger than us and we had to be tough in the post."
Free-throw shooting was also crucial for Glenbard North as it finished 23 of 27 including 13 of 17 in the final quarter which helped keep the Saxons at pay.
It was the Panthers' seventh straight victory.
"These girls have banded together. It took us time to figure who we are and how we will play with each other," said Panthers coach John Chamberlain. "We made a lot of nice defensive adjustments in the second half tonight. Defensively, we closed out on the shooters and offensively we stayed composed and moved the ball.
It was a tough way to end the season for the Saxons. But it was one game among many accomplishments.
"We kept improving. That was shown by placing second in conference and we did well in our tournaments," Goodwin said. "The seniors provided great leadership and we'll miss them. We'll be reflecting on that in the coming days."