Glenbard South knocks off Fenton

Fenton and Glenbard South each found the weak spot in the other's defense.

The Raiders just found that weak spot a little more often, winning 49-41 Thursday night in Glen Ellyn in a Metro Suburban Conference game in which they never trailed.

"They shot pretty well," Fenton coach Tim Anderson said. "(Raiders sophomore Stefani Bazigos) knocked down three 3s in the first half. That hurt us. They were splitting us pretty well and they were finding the girl on the weak side and they were knocking them down. That's what you're supposed to do.

"Our given, what we do is the baseline, and if you look at a shot chart there's a lot of shots from the baseline. We do our best to cover as many spots on the floor as we can, and that's one we're vulnerable with."

"Defense is always our main part of the game," added Raiders junior guard Theresa Scheet, who converted a pair of 3-pointers herself. "Tonight we had some difficulties guarding the 3, but we're definitely going to work on that and get better for next time."

The Raiders ran off 10 straight points to end the second quarter, taking a 24-12 lead on a Bazigos 3. Their lead peaked at 16 points in the third quarter before Fenton rallied to cut it to 8 late in the fourth quarter.

"We were very tentative in the first half," Anderson said. "I don't know exactly why that is. We spent halftime trying to figure that out. We were a little less tentative in the second half and we made a better showing of ourselves."

Sophomore guard Tina Guarino led Fenton (5-5, 2-3) with 11 points and 4 steals, and senior Taylor Pugliese added 10 points.

Bazigos finished with 13 points and 4 steals for Glenbard South (7-4, 3-1), and Scheet added 10 points plus 4 assists.

For the young Raiders, it was a good way to bounce back from a tough nonconference loss Tuesday at Wheaton North.

"The first few weeks we were just getting to know each other, but I would say our chemistry is really coming along," Scheet said. "By the end of the season even now, I can see some of our passes are like, wow. We're reading each other's minds. We're going to get there. We have a lot of potential. I like it."

"It's definitely a process when you mix kids of the age gap that I have," said Raiders coach Julie Fonda, who played four freshmen and two sophomores. "Some of them are still 14. That's young, and they were still playing eighth-grade basketball a year ago. ... You're going to have your ups and downs."