Glenbard East surprises Glenbard West

If Glenbard East felt slighted by its sectional seed, this more than made up for it.

The No. 11 seed Rams beat District 87 rival Glenbard West for the second time this season, upending the sixth-seeded Hilltoppers 55-50 at Tuesday's Class 4A Lake Park regional semifinal in Roselle.

"We weren't really happy with the 11 seed," said Rams senior Jackie Foreman, who scored 15 points, "but when we found out we were playing Glenbard West we were confident because we beat them earlier in the season. They really wanted to beat us and we really wanted to beat them."

A game featuring nine ties and 12 lead changes broke Glenbard East's way for good midway through the fourth quarter. Down 38-36, a Foreman score and Kelsey Taylor 3-pointer touched off a 13-1 run. Lindsey Fairbairn had a basket and an assist to Nikki Hall, Taylor a score on a runout off a Glenbard West miss and Hall knocked in a jumper to make it 49-41 with 1:42 left.

Glenbard West (18-11) pulled within 53-50 with 7.5 seconds left on an Alexandria Capeles 3-pointer before Taylor clinched the game with two free throws.

"We made those plays and we put the free throws in when we needed to," said Taylor, whose 14 points included her 1,000th varsity point.

Abbie Hastings had 17 points and Abbey White 14 for the Hilltoppers.

"We had some breakdowns defensively at the end, they got a lot of second shots and then offensively we didn't protect the basketball," Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland said. "Those type of runs will kill you."

Despite giving away inches inside, Glenbard East (18-10) outrebounded Glenbard West 30-26, pulling down 15 crucial offensive rebounds. Six of sophomore Olivia Trefilek's 10 rebounds came at the offensive end.

"Our girls knew that they outsized in the post and that they had to put it out there," Rams coach Nicole Miller said. "That was one of the things we stressed was hitting the boards. It was just a back-and-forth game that came down to execution at the end."