Lake Park win over Glenbard East is par for course

Glenbard East thought it was going to Lake Park for a girls basketball regional final Thursday night. Nobody mentioned anything about an obstacle course.

The Rams found it tough just to get to the basket, falling to the host Lancers 54-39 in a Class 4A regional.

If the Rams (18-11) could get the ball past Lancers guards Jenna Aloia, Tori Clark and Carly Willert, they ran into 6-foot-4 Samantha Arnold, 5-11 Devin Johnston or 5-11 Chelsea Gieseke in the low post.

"We were so pumped up," Johnston said. "We wanted another regional. We want to go as far as we can this year. We have a great team, great chemistry."

Lake Park (25-5) never trailed, turning a 12-5 lead after the first quarter into a 26-16 margin at halftime. Then the Lancers put the game out of reach in the third quarter, going up 42-21 when Arnold ended the period by scoring off a Clark pass.

"They played well," Rams coach Nicole Miller said of the Lancers. "They executed. We struggled from the floor, we struggled from the line, so it was hard to put it all together. We probably missed eight layups."

The Rams shot just 18 percent from the field in the first three quarters, in part because so many of their shots kept coming back at them. Arnold blocked 7 shots, many of them when the Rams got the ball down low, and Johnston added 2 more.

"Not only is she doing it on the offensive end, she's doing it on the defensive end too," Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling said of Arnold, who led all scorers with 21 points. "She was in there battling in the post."

For her troubles Arnold took an elbow to the throat in the fourth quarter while battling for one of her 9 rebounds. With Arnold gone the Rams took advantage, going on an 18-point fourth-quarter outburst. The only problem was the Lancers kept scoring too.

Willert added 13 points for Lake Park, which plays the winner of tonight's York-Bartlett game in Monday's Addison Trail sectional semifinals.

"She stepped up first," Fruehling said of Willert, who start the Lancers off with 5 quick points. "We talked about having good balance, and she had a couple of open looks at the beginning and that freed up our other players down the stretch. I was excited for her to get a couple of hits. She's a pretty good ballplayer, and she's fun to watch."

Senior Kelsey Taylor led Glenbard East with 16 points.

"She's been our go-to player and she's been really consistent throughout the whole season, doing a nice job," Miller said.