Glenbard North fends off West Aurora's comeback
The Glenbard North girls basketball team got off to a great start in DuPage Valley Conference action Thursday when they beat West Aurora 49-43 in Aurora.
The Panthers almost led a 15-point lead slip away, but held on for their second win of the season.
"Any win in conference, plus one on the road... I think it was a tough opening draw with West Aurora, but our girls did a nice job," Glenbard North coach John Chamberlain said. "I challenged them after our first couple of games. We built a lead in our first two games and lost it. The first game we won against Addison Trail, we did the same thing - we built a lead. We were kind of playing not to lose. We did that over the summer, and so we talked about getting that experience, and that got us through."
The Panthers (2-5, 1-0) had their largest lead of the game, 42-27, with 4:45 left to play after a basket from Jennifer Blasius. The Blackhawks (1-6, 0-1), however, chipped away at Glenbard North's lead and was able to cut it to 47-43 after a 3-pointer from Bri Tye with 27.2 seconds remaining.
"We just couldn't get it," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. "We got burned a couple of times, and they scored, we had to foul them and they made their free throws. It was one of those things where we should have never let it go that far."
A pair of free throws from Brianna DiGioia with 15.6 seconds left sealed the game for Glenbard North. DiGioia finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds while teammate Amoni Reynolds led all Panthers with 15 points to go with her 6 rebounds.
Glenbard North's big quarter was the third, when it outscored the Blackhawks 13-2.
West Aurora was without starters Sam Alvis (ill) and Kiara Towles (bad ankle). Tye led all scorers with 23 points, including 13 in the final quarter. The Blackhawks' largest lead of the game was by four points in the second quarter. Also in that quarter, they went on a 10-0 run, led by Tye's 6 points.
"I'm angry that we lost, but this was one of our better efforts," Siljendahl said.