Glenbard South falters against Trinity

Ally Daca and Glenbard South started Thursday night's girls basketball game against Trinity quite uncharacteristically.

The Raiders stumbled out of the blocks early.

"I don't think we were nervous," Daca said. "I don't think we were quite ready to play tonight."

It showed early on. Trinity scored the first 9 points of the game and led wire-to-wire in a 41-31 win in River Forest.

"They're physical and it scared us," Glenbard South coach Morgan Kasperek said. "We spotted them a 9-point lead before we got going and it makes the difference in the game."

Trinity's pressure got to Glenbard South from the start.

The Blazers forced the Raiders into turnovers on four of their first five possessions. Glenbard South (20-3) was 0 for 5 from the field to open the game and was held scoreless until an Alex Wilharm layup with 2 minutes, 27 seconds to play in the first quarter. It was the only basket in the quarter for Glenbard South, which was 1 of 9 from the field and trailed 13-2 after eight minutes.

"We knew (how intense they were)," sophomore Raquel LaPonte said. "We were preparing a lot for it in practice, but I think we had a bad game."

The Raiders knew they had to find a way back in the game.

"We needed to collect ourselves," LaPonte said. "Start playing as a team, be intense (and) try to chip away at the score."

They did that. Maggie Bair had a pair of layups, a 3-pointer and Daca hit a 3-pointer of her own as they cut the deficit to 17-12 with 3:03 left in the half.

"I think our intensity went up," Daca said. "I think we saw the scoreboard and thought, 'We're not down by that much, we got this.'"

But Trinity didn't let them back in the game. The Blazers scored the last 7 points of the half and restored their double-digit lead.

"We let their physicalness and aggressiveness take us out of our game," Kasperek said.

A poor shooting night didn't help Glenbard South's chances of coming back. The Raiders shot 11 of 44 on the night and were 5 of 21 from 3-point land.

"I feel like we fell under pressure offensively," Daca said. "We were all over places. We didn't have quite a great game today."

Credit that to Trinity's aggressiveness on defense.

"We shot terribly, but they rushed us," Kasperek said. "We were intimated by the physicalness of the game. That hurt us in every aspect."