Glenbard West set up for hectic Saturday
Cayla Herbst and the Glenbard West Hilltoppers have a hectic Saturday ahead of them.
It's all good with them, though.
After beating Glenbard East 58-44 on Friday at the Rachel Bach Memorial Tournament in Lombard, the Hilltoppers will play Downers Grove North at 9 a.m. for the championship. Both teams are 3-0 in the tournament.
Shower and change - then it's off to Champaign to root for the Glenbard West football team in the Class 7A state championship game scheduled for a 4 p.m. kickoff.
"Who would have thought that we'd be going down to state for football," Herbst said, "and doing so well in this tournament? Last year we struggled here. It's exciting."
Glenbard West (4-0) notched its third straight double-digit tournament win. Glenbard East didn't go easy, though.
The Hilltoppers jumped out to an 18-7 lead early in the second quarter after a Herbst basket but watched the host Rams close within 32-40 with 4:41 left in the third quarter on a Nikki Hall score.
Abbey White answered for Glenbard West with a 3-pointer, touching off an 11-0 run to end the third quarter. White, who scored a game-high 20 points, capped it off with a breakaway layup with 48 seconds left.
"We just had to stop hurting ourselves," Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland said. "East did a nice job, but we made a lot of silly mistakes. In a tournament like this one that's going to happen, because the last time we practiced was Monday - and it was a brief one. You just got to grit it out, and I thought the girls did a real nice job in the second half."
Herbst had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks for Glenbard West. Jamie Klepetka scored 16 points to pace Glenbard East (2-2).
"Glenbard West is a solid team," Rams coach Nicole Miller said, "and we had a lot to deal with. We started to make things interesting. They had a run there at the end of the third quarter and we just couldn't recover."
In Friday's first game in Lombard, Glenbard South closed with a 14-3 run to beat Glenbard North 56-47. An Alyse Cates 3-pointer put the Raiders (2-2) ahead 45-44 with 3:41 left, and Cates followed with a steal and score. Nevena Markovic converted a three-point play off a turnover and Patrice Hicks added a score off another Raiders steal.
"I'm proud of the scrappiness. I haven't seen them diving on the floor like they did today," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "We're inexperienced, but we're starting to get it."
Markovic scored 25 points, the third straight game of 20-plus points for the 6-foot-3 junior. Brianna Harn scored 13 and Amoni Reynolds 11 for Glenbard North.
"She's the complete player," Fonda said of Markovic. "Junior year is an important year for her. She's understanding that. She's been on fire."