Raiders shake off slow start, Knights

One thing you can count on with a Julie Fonda-coached Glenbard South team is it's not going to quit after a slow start.

The Raiders shook off the cobwebs from a one-week layoff to beat Kaneland 53-43 on Friday in Glen Ellyn.

"I'm not one to make excuses," Fonda said, "but those kids haven't played a game since last Friday, and it's finals week. It's a stressful week for them. We shook the rust off and started competing."

Kaneland (4-13, 1-6 Western Sun Conference) effectively broke Glenbard South's pressure for easy scores in the first quarter. But turnovers were at the center of two critical Raiders runs.

Down 19-12 a minute into the second quarter, Glenbard South (10-6, 5-2) forced turnovers on three straight Kaneland posssessions. A Lauren Podgorski steal and score cut the lead to 3, Meghan Pipal hit two free throws off a turnover and a Nevena Markovic post move and score tied it at 20.

"We didn't look at the scoreboard," Markovic said, "and just kept on playing our game."

The game remained nip-and-tuck well into the third quarter, and a basket by Kaneland's Mallory Huml with 1:53 left in the third pulled the Knights within 34-33.

In a furious 39-second stretch, though, Glenbard South scored 7 straight points to take control of things. Markovic hit a pair of free throws, Tess Di Iorio had a steal and score in the Kaneland backcourt, and after another Knights turnover Markovic converted a three-point play.

"Patrice (Hicks) did a nice job of coming in and for a freshman understanding what I wanted her to do," Fonda said. "She was pushing the girl into the corner, and you combine her and Nevena's wingspan, that's quite a trap."

"We had two bad stretches where we had trouble with their press," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "That was the difference in the game."

After getting few touches early against Kaneland's zone, Markovic and fellow post Maja Despot finished with strong games. Markovic had 11 points and 8 rebounds and older cousin Despot 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.

"We finally started reversing the ball and created that high-low between the two of them," Fonda said. "They can be quite a pair with the high-low."

Pipal had 13 points and 9 rebounds, and Podgorski, who got the start with Kim Schwerdtmann out with a turned ankle, scored 10.

Mallory Carlson had 9 points and 8 rebounds and Alyssa Galvan 7 points and 8 boards for Kaneland, which could get injured senior Katie Hatch back in the next week.

"I thought our team played hard all night," Colombe said. "We hustled, we played hard - it was probably our best game without Katie Hatch. We keep playing like this and get Katie back, we'll be OK."