Glenbard West settles old score with Downers North
Glenbard West was so mad.
The Hilltoppers went out and beat Downers Grove North at Glenbard East's Thanksgiving tournament, then three days later the Trojans won the teams' West Suburban Silver opener, the Hilltoppers' only conference loss entering Saturday's rematch at Glenbard West.
The Hilltoppers spent the past two months stewing about that loss. They won't anymore after winning 39-32 Saturday in Glen Ellyn.
"They're big competition for us," Glenbard West senior point guard Kara Stack said. "Conference games are always important, but just playing Downers Grove, it's just a tough game always."
"Downers always plays us tough, and it was nice to pull away at the end there," Hilltoppers coach Mike Hofland added. "They were more physical with us. … You win by (17 at Thanksgiving), you get a little cocky, and they came back hungry and they took it to us and they outworked us and they pushed us around (in a 5-point Trojans win). So that was our goal tonight, was to make sure we did a nice job. We really stressed working on the defensive end."
Without junior forward Kathryn Lux, who had an MRI on her left knee this week, they were missing a key player.
"We needed a total team effort tonight to pick up the slack because we're hurting without her," Hofland said.
The Hilltoppers (11-11, 5-1) entered the fourth quarter with a 4-point lead, then lost it when the Trojans (9-12, 4-5) scored 6 straight. Downers North held the lead just 17 seconds before Abby Hastings scored to tie the game at 26. It was the first basket in a 10-0 Glenbard West run.
"Abby Hastings just seems to be the unsung hero," Hofland said. "Last week she got a ton of great rebounds for us, tonight she played some really great defense."
The Hilltoppers made just enough free throws down the stretch to earn the win.
"We stayed calm, which we've had trouble with in the past, but we showed that we're growing as a team," Stack said. "We stayed pretty calm and confident that we were going to make our free throws even if they came at us with fouls."
Glenbard West's Nicole Hazemi scored 14 points to lead both teams, and Abbey White and Hastings added 9 each. Missy Blazej led the Trojans with 13 points.
"She had a really good game," Trojans coach Darrin Travillian said of his junior forward. "There was a couple of times I thought she could have gone in a little more aggressively. … We've got to get her some more help. When we're clicking we get some people hitting some shots, we got some people driving. When we're not we do a lot of standing and watching her. So we've got to get some other people going. We were just a little bit out of sync, and they had a lot to do with that defensively."