Glenbard South executes to take third at Glenbard East

Glenbard East made Glenbard South earn Saturday's victory, and the Raiders did.

The Raiders only trailed once, midway through the fourth quarter, but they came right back to earn a 47-44 victory and third place at the Rachel Bach Memorial Tournament in Lombard.

"It was just anybody's ballgame," Rams coach Nicole Miller said. "It came down to who can execute better in the end."

"They executed our plan perfectly, and that's not easy to do," Raiders coach Julie Fonda added. "Five games into the season you don't expect that."

Sarah Englehardt's basket gave the Raiders the lead back for good with 3:42 to play, and Patrice Hicks and Tess DiIorio followed with 3-pointers. The Rams stayed close with a couple of Olivia Trefilek baskets, but that was fine with the Raiders.

"It was just taking care of the 3-pointer, and then down the stretch completely we were going to give up 2 and not give up 3, which we did," Fonda said. "We gave up 2. It's OK, though."

Raiders center Nevena Markovic finished with a game-high 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. DiIorio added 15 points, and Hicks had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists to Markovic.

The tournament was a good start to the season for the Raiders (3-2), who won't play their first home game for another couple of weeks.

"I could easily be 1-4 right now because we played in all close games," Fonda said. "I'm pretty happy with this group. Obviously, Nevena is coming into her own, and Patrice is a great complement to her. And my guards improved. They got better as the games went on. I'm happy with where we're sitting right now."

Senior guard Jamie Klepteka led the Rams (2-3) with 11 points and 4 assists.