Glenbard West cleans glass, downs South Elgin

Consider the Glenbard West girls basketball team regional ready.

After the Hilltoppers were outrebounded in Tuesday's 42-37 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South, Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland made cleaning the glass his main point of emphasis heading into Thursday's regular season finale at South Elgin.

The taller Hilltoppers responded by dominating the boards 39-21, scoring multiple second-chance baskets to run away from the Storm for a 66-40 nonconference victory.

"We really wanted to come out and rebound our hearts out to show that, yes, we can rebound," said 6-foot-2 senior center Cayla Herbst, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Senior guard Abbey White (5-8) scored 12 points and hauled in 8 rebounds, senior Abigail Hastings (6-0) finished with 12 points and 5 boards and senior forward Nicole Hazemi had 3 rebounds to go with her team-best 14 points.

"I saw some of our girls getting after it on the boards tonight and that's great, especially going into the regionals," Hofland said.

The 'Toppers rebounding dominance translated directly to 6 straight points late in the first half. Glenbard West already led 20-16 when White scored on the third shot of a possession, junior Shanice Hayes scored after an offensive rebound and White notched another putback to lift Glenbard West to a 26-16 lead with 33 seconds left in the second quarter.

A jumpshot by South Elgin senior Alyssa Krause kept the Storm within 8 points at the half, and they were still within 11 points early in the fourth quarter after senior guard Sarah Havemann sank 2 free throws.

However, seven Glenbard West players contributed points to a game-deciding 23-4 run, which ballooned the lead to 30 points with a minute to play.

Glenbard West (16-12) employed a 1-3-1 zone defense that South Elgin (10-15) couldn't crack with any regularity. The Storm shot 12 of 49 from the field (24.5 percent), 1 of 9 from 3-point range.

"We were getting good looks, but we weren't really getting any second-chance opportunities," said Storm guard Becca Smith, who led all scorers with 15 points. "We weren't really boxing out and that's what really killed us in the end."

South Elgin has one more tuneup before the playoffs. The Storm will face Bartlett in a makeup game Saturday afternoon.

"It's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world," South Elgin coach Tim Predergast said of Thursday's loss. "We'll try to bounce back. We've got a big game coming up against Bartlett and then we've got regionals on Monday. We're looking forward to it."