Glenbard South routs future league foe
Starting next season, Glenbard South's trips to Bensenville will carry added significance.
Raiders coach Julie Fonda didn't need to be reminded.
Fonda's Raiders - who will join Fenton in the Metro Suburban Conference for the 2010-2011 school year - handled the host Bison 58-42 on Thursday night.
"We're going to be getting them twice a year, and we talked about that as a team," Fonda said. "It's a nice opportunity to set a tone for the next year. I think the girls did a good job of that."
Glenbard South (13-9) set the tone early on, leading 18-7 after a quarter. Fenton was within 25-17 with 46 seconds left in the first half, but from there Glenbard South scored the last 7 points of the half and continued an 11-0 run out of the break to go ahead 36-17.
Glenbard South pushed its lead to 44-20, allowing Fonda to substitute freely.
"It was a good game all the way around," Fonda said. "I was impressed with the way we moved the ball on offense and executed. Our defense has been fantastic the last couple weeks here, so we've really been focusing on offense."
Nevena Markovic scored 6 points during that stretch, and the 6-foot-4 junior was at the center of much of the Raiders offense. Markovic scored 10 points with 5 assists and 7 rebounds, sitting much of the second half with the game in hand. Tess Diiorio had 11 points, Patrice Hicks 10 points and 7 boards and Sarah Engelhardt 8 points and 7 rebounds.
"Nev can distribute and she can shoot - she's an awesome kid and an awesome player," Fonda said. "A lot of credit to her for looking for her teammates. She's done that all year. She knows teams are going to collapse on her, and she makes them pay with passes like Patrice cutting to the basket."
An undersized Fenton team struggled with Glenbard South's length, giving up 17 offensive rebounds.
"That's the first team that's scored over 47 points against us," Fenton coach Tim Anderson said. "We just didn't have an answer to their height."
Fenton (9-14) did get another superb shooting performance from senior McKall Pugliese. Pugliese, who came into Thursday with an area-leading 67 3-pointers, tied her own school record with 7 en route to a game-high 22 points. Pugliese shot 7 of 12 from deep, matching her performance against IMSA in December.
"She can flat-out shoot," Anderson said. "If I were making a shooting video, she would definitely be the after picture. You can always find something to try to tweak someone's shot to make it better, but I can't tell her anything. Her stroke is flawless."