Glenbard West's win not as easy as it looks

Glenbard West was going to get an easy win over York, then it became a moderate win, then a close win, then an easy win again, until it got close again.

The Hilltoppers finally wound up with a 57-45 victory in the West Suburban Silver that was anything but as easy as it first looked.

"We weren't consistent," Hilltoppers coach Mike Hofland said. "When we were good, we were real good."

Glenbard West, which hadn't played since Dec. 23, was real good at the start. The Hilltoppers led 17-1 when York hit its first field goal, a Mary Colon 3-pointer almost 10 minutes into the game. That got the York offense going, and at halftime the lead was back inside single digits at 21-12.

"We just didn't do a good job playing with the lead," Hofland said. "Too many poor shots. Too much forcing the ball and bad passes instead of just relaxing and setting up the offense. We just play at one speed, and we need to learn that once you have the lead to take care of the ball. We didn't do that tonight and luckily we held on for the win."

The Hilltoppers held a fairly steady lead until early in the fourth quarter, when the Dukes pulled within 6 points, only to see the Hilltoppers seem to salt the game away with 10 straight points.

Not so fast. York answered with a 15-1 run, cutting Glenbard West's lead to 47-45 with 1:46 to play.

York's run was done, however, and it was the Hilltoppers' turn again. They scored the game's final 10 points.

"We've been a little inconsistent lately, especially offensively, and it really showed," York coach Jason Reinecke said. "We came out flat, and obviously digging ourselves into a big hole, that makes it very difficult against a good team. Especially a good team that we don't match up well with sizewise. But I'm really proud of the girls. We made it close at the end, then they hit some free throws there to seal the deal."

Abby Hastings led the Hilltoppers (11-7, 3-3) with 15 points and added 6 rebounds, and fellow post player Nicole Hazemi added 12 points and 7 rebounds as Glenbard West took advantage of a big height difference.

York (7-10, 1-5) got 17 points from Colon and 12 from Meryl Cripe. The Dukes played without Evan Semmelhack due to an injured foot.