Glenbard South guts out victory

Call it pre-holiday blahs or the dog days of December.

Fortunately, it didn't do in Glenbard South against DeKalb.

The slow-starting Raiders rebounded from a 4-point halftime deficit for a 45-40 win on Tuesday night in Glen Ellyn.

"I feel like it was definitely a lethargic game all the way through," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "We've talked about having intensity and better focus in practice. Our last two days of practice have not been focused. I've been appealing to my seniors to provide that focus."

DeKalb, at times frustrating the young Raiders with a well-prepared, physical style of play, led throughout the first half and took a 23-19 lead into the break. But Glenbard South held DeKalb scoreless for the first 5:29 of the third quarter to wrest control of the game.

A free throw by Alsye Cates gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 24-23, preceded by a Tess Diiorio 3-pointer. Another Diiorio 3-pointer pushed the Raiders ahead 27-25 with 1:42 left in the third.

"Big 3s to get us back in the game," Fonda said.

Both Diiorio 3-pointers came on second shots from offensive rebounds. Glenbard South (7-3, 4-1 Western Sun Conference) seemed a step slow of DeKalb in the first half but turned the tables after the intermission.

"I thought we really had an opportunity to put them away early in the third quarter," DeKalb coach Debbie Whitman said. "We didn't do that, and I thought it took the wind out of our sails. What we like to call the 50/50 balls, the balls on the floor and 50/50 who's going to get it, first half I thought we went after them. Second half I thought they went after them more than we did."

A baseline drive by Patrice Hicks with 6:32 left in the game gave the Raiders the lead for good at 31-30. Hicks and Danielle Chitkowski scored in the final minute on perfecly executed baseball passes against fullcourt pressure. That and 6-for-6 free-throw shooting by freshman guard Teresa Scheet preserved the lead.

"At the end I was really proud of the way the girls executed," Fonda said. "I drew up some brand new plays and they executed them. Scheet's a fantastic free-throw shooter. To put the weight of the game on a freshman and for her to come through, that was great to see."

Hicks had 12 points and 8 rebounds, Nevena Markovic 8 points and 8 boards and Scheet 9 points for Glenbard South. Emma Bemis paced DeKalb (7-4, 2-3) with 12 points and 8 rebounds.

"We just had to play better defense in the second half and get more rebounds," Markovic said, "because they were outrebounding us in the first half, too. It's almost Christmas, and everybody's breaking for school. I think we'll get over it and start practicing harder."