Glenbard South 48, Kaneland 42

Glenbard South's Danielle Pipal played like a human alarm clock.

The 5-foot-8 senior guard woke up the Raiders in the second quarter by scoring 11 of her game-high 18 points. That was the spark her team needed to beat Western Sun Conference foe Kaneland 48-42 Friday evening in Glen Ellyn.

Pipal sensed her sluggish team needed a boost.

"I stepped it up and I tried to shoot more," she said. "We needed a little push to get going."

The girls basketball game was the first half of a Pack-The-Place varsity doubleheader. Both clubs appeared sleepy for the 5:30 p.m. tipoff.

Kaneland (6-12, 1-7) got the best of the early action. The Knights handled Glenbard South's backcourt pressure relatively well and led 14-10 after Sara Rose made a layup with 5:32 left in the second quarter.

But then Pipal went to work after re-entering the contest with 2 fouls. She drained a 3-pointer and scored 7 points in a minute.

"She went back in and took over," Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda said. "When she gets hungry and she sees the opportunities, she takes advantage of them. Her jump shot was on tonight. When it's on, she feels good and everything clicks."

"She's a great player," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "She's one of the best players in the conference and she showed that tonight. She's tough."

Pipal's outburst triggered a 13-2 run for Glenbard South (14-6, 6-3) that closed the first half, sending the home team into the locker room with a 26-19 advantage.

Kaneland stayed within striking distance in the second half and found itself as close as 30-28 on Lesley Winslow's putback with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.

But, with Pipal on the bench, the Raiders scored the next 5 points with Alicia Engelhardt hitting back-to-back buckets. The hosts took a 40-31 lead into the final quarter and hit enough free throws to keep Kaneland at bay.

Jess Muniz, who canned 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter, and Engelhardt chipped in 9 points apiece for the winners.

"It's better to win ugly than not win, so we'll take it," Fonda said. "Today we were just sort of dead. Our feet were in stone and we had very little energy."

Katie Hatch finished with 13 points and Rose totaled 11 for Kaneland.