Glenbard West comes back to top South Elgin in OT
No chairs went flying in the Glenbard West locker room at halftime. The talk was calm but determined, and it had a theme.
The Hilltoppers needed to get mentally tough.
After playing a "timid" first half Glenbard West rallied from 12 points down in the third quarter to defeat visiting South Elgin 59-54 in overtime in both teams' regular-season finale Thursday night.
"We just got fired up in the locker room and our team played for the seniors and they did an awesome job," said senior Kathryn Lux, who returned after missing four games with a shoulder injury to score 14 points. "It was coach, it was just everyone getting on each other. We just pumped each other up."
"We've been struggling and you hate to end the season on a slide," added Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland, whose team had lost three of its last four entering Thursday's game. "We had a really good year. Kathryn got hurt, and it's like the dog days. We ran out of gas, and we're in really good condition, so it wasn't physical fatigue, it was mental fatigue. That was the whole thing today was to get them back mentally, to get them mentally tough. That was the talk at halftime."
The talk didn't work, at least not at first.
South Elgin scored the first 7 points of the third quarter to take a 25-12 lead. Finally, Glenbard West started scoring, cutting the margin to 1 after three quarters, tying the game early in the fourth on a Teresa McDonald lay-in.
"We've been struggling. Then we come out in that third quarter and turn the ball over the first three possessions, I was thinking the worst again," Hofland said. "The kids responded. It was fun."
The fourth quarter went back and forth, with Storm junior Dijon Smith scoring 11 of her team-leading 16 points to help South Elgin (17-9) keep pace with the resurgent Hilltoppers (18-10) in the nonconference game.
"Every time we would get something, they came right back and had an answer," Storm coach Tim Prendergast said.
Smith's three-point play gave the Storm a 47-45 lead, but Abbie Hastings hit a short jumper in the lane to tie the game with five seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game to overtime.
"I don't know if that gave them momentum or not, but if we get a rebound there we win the game," Prendergast said.
Though it was senior night, junior Abbey White led everyone with 21 points, 17 of them after halftime.
"She's amazing," Lux said of White. "She is going to be a force to reckon with next year. She steps up. She's a heck of a player."
The Hilltoppers head to the Class 4A Lake Park regional on Tuesday to meet Glenbard East. South Elgin hosts St. Charles East in a home regional game.
"It's good to go out of the season with a win, keep the momentum going into the playoffs," said Lux, who admitted to favoring her shoulder a little. "Hopefully, we'll keep on rolling."
"I'm just glad it's not the last game of the year," Prendergast said. "We've got another game Tuesday."