Glenbard West reigns alone atop West Suburban Silver

Last summer Sammy Harris and the Glenbard West girls basketball wrote down goals for the upcoming season.

What Harris wrote down seemed a bit outlandish.

"My goal was to win conference," the senior said. "Everyone was kind of like, 'Whoa, that's a big goal.'"

Beating Hinsdale Central 69-44 Tuesday night proved one thing: Harris' goal was well within reach. Glenbard West sealed its first West Suburban Silver title since 2006, taking the league championship outright with its 19th consecutive victory.

Harris and the rest of the senior class wanted to make sure they left a lasting memory.

"Leading up to today, I was like really hyped, I was really excited to play Hinsdale Central," Harris said. "Also it's been since 2006 that we've won conference, so it's a legacy, that me, Ellie Sear and Cameron Kruse wanted to leave."

The Hilltoppers (23-3, 10-1) started fast and never looked back.

Glenbard West raced out to a 21-9 first-quarter lead and forced Hinsdale Central into 7 turnovers.

"As our coach (Kristi Faulkner) was telling us in the locker room, that it was probably our best start to a quarter that we've ever had in this whole season," Kruse said. "That means a lot going into the state playoffs."

But Hinsdale Central (7-16, 1-8) kept it close in the second quarter. The Red Devils forced 6 turnovers in the quarter and didn't let the Hilltoppers push their lead.

"I think our team was playing our best defense in the second quarter," Red Devils senior Claire Lozier said.

But Glenbard West - especially Kruse - took over in the third quarter.

Kruse scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter, when Glenbard West led by as many as 21 points.

"Sometimes you get in that mentality where you tell yourself you're going to make it and it actually happens," said Kruse, who hit three 3-pointers.

Hinsdale Central could never get out of the hole it dug itself into early on.

"We put our backs up against the wall to start with," Red Devils coach Karen Persinger said. "Defensively, we were just inconsistent tonight. We just couldn't get it to come all together."

And the Hilltoppers took advantage of that, claiming a title in Faulkner's first year after taking over for Persinger.

"It was a lot of fun," Faulkner said. "They've worked extremely hard. It's fun to see the whole group, but especially the seniors, to win a conference title in their last year."

And that moment hasn't been too big for the seniors.

"We enjoyed the moment," Harris said. "That's something we've also been emphasizing, because winning games is obviously the main goal, but it's also we're here to have fun."