Flanagan, Glenbard West forge better memory

Glenbard West needed a new memory.

Monday night's 43-27 victory against Leyden in the Class 4A Glenbard West regional did the trick.

The Hilltoppers lost a big lead to York on Friday and a piece of the West Suburban Silver title with it, but they put that behind them quickly with a good start Monday.

"Especially after York we wanted to come out big and show what we had," said senior point guard Bridget Flanagan, who scored 9 of her game-high 11 points in the first quarter.

"I was worried about how they were going to be and they came out and played well," coach Mike Hofland said of his Hilltoppers. "It's nice to jump on a team early."

Glenbard West took a double-digit lead late in the first quarter when Flanagan converted a layup following a Lauren Davis steal and assist, going up 16-5.

"We struggled a little bit," Eagles coach Michele Szatko said. "Our intensity for certain things was not there. We tried to do too much on the offensive end and were forcing things and not taking what the defense was giving us. We had to be a little bit more patient. It killed us."

"We did a real nice job defensively, and Bridget did a nice job of getting to the basket," Hofland added. "The only downfall in the first half was free throws. We missed quite a few. Otherwise I was pleased with everything else."

In a close game the Hilltoppers' 7-of-17 free-throw shooting might haunt them, but they did so well in other areas it wasn't a factor. In fact the Hilltoppers starters got plenty of rest, with Hofland emptying the bench in advance of Tuesday night's regional rematch against Wheaton North. The Hilltoppers upset Wheaton North last year and know the Falcons want to avenge that loss.

"Tomorrow night's a key game," Hofland said. "We're looking forward to playing Wheaton North. Everybody's pretty healthy and they're going to be rested. It's nice. We would have been in trouble maybe if we'd had to play everybody the whole game, but luckily we were able to sub everybody out and get the starters out in the fourth quarter, get them iced up and ready to go for tomorrow."

Davis scored 9 points and Cayla Herbst added 8.

Senior Moira Quinlan led Leyden with 7 points.