Glenbard South defense stops St. Francis
A new generation of Raiders is learning the Glenbard South way of girls basketball.
Defense matters.
The Raiders held St. Francis (1-3) to 10-of-49 shooting and walked away with a 53-32 home victory Tuesday night in Glen Ellyn.
"I put a lot of emphasis on defense, and we spend the first two weeks pretty much playing defense the whole time," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "Most of the girls play AAU and all they talk about is offense so I've got to balance it out with defense. ... We work hard at defense. I put a lot of stock into it and put a lot of pride into it."
It showed in the first three quarters especially. The Raiders scored the first 5 points of the third quarter to take a 25-12 lead, holding St. Francis to 1-of-13 shooting for the period as 6-foot-2 freshman Sydney Bauman registered 2 of her 4 blocked shots. Glenbard South led 40-18 going into the fourth.
The one Spartan who hurt Glenbard South (4-2) the most was the one who didn't stand out on the scouting report, junior Alyssa Fernandez. Fernandez scored a team-high 15 points, including 10 of the Spartans' 12 first-half points.
"She had a great game," Fonda said after making a halftime adjustment for Fernandez. "... The offense ran through her, for sure. But she had a great game and an all-the-way-around great game. She was there on defense, she did a nice job offensively, and I think she even crashed the boards pretty well. We definitely keyed in on her in the second half."
The young Raiders got 16 points from Tomei Ball, one of two sophomores to start.
"She's just a steady player and not flashy," Fonda said. "She just does the job. She was in the right place at the right time a lot tonight and picked up a lot of garbage points, but she converts on them. She's a scrappy player and I'm really pleased with her progress."
Jenna Brambora, one of four Raiders freshmen to play, came off the bench to score 9 points, and junior Theresa Scheet added 8 points and 5 assists.
"It was a fun game to watch and a fun game to coach and they just got done saying it was a fun game to play,"Fonda said.