Girls basketball: Noble’s double-double helps Glenbard West beat St. Charles North for eighth straight win
When it comes to basketball, Ellie Noble always wants to go out on the court and play hard.
Whether it’s grabbing rebounds on either offense or defense, knocking some few passes away for a steal, or driving into the paint for a layup, the Glenbard West junior has made it a goal to put in her all into every game she plays.
It just so happens that two of the last three times, it’s been against a team from St. Charles.
So does she have a vendetta against the city?
“I promise I don’t have one,” Noble said laughing. “I just feel like especially going into the playoffs, my team has a goal of getting as far as we can and we all just put what we can into every game. And no matter who we face, we just put in our all.”
And against St. Charles North, it was more than apparent. Noble dropped a game-high 19 points and added in 14 rebounds and four steals to help the Hilltoppers to a 55-36 victory for their eighth straight win.
“We just came into this game knowing that we were just going to do the details,” Noble said. “That’s something my coach always talks about, especially with all of the stuff that is controllable based on effort and just take control.”
One of those controllables the Hilltoppers (25-3) had no trouble with was rebounding, out-rebounding the North Stars 37-17 on the glass. Of Noble’s 14 rebounds, nine of them came on the offensive side.
“We talked with her in the first half when she had like eight, Ellie was doing a real good job on the boards,” Hilltoppers coach Kristi Faulkner said. “And collectively as a team, even our guards were getting in there. So just the heart and the effort, we were really proud to see that the whole way.”
That type of play was a big way the Hilltoppers got around the North Stars’ full-court press. And the success was seen early on, taking a 27-17 lead into halftime and pushing it to 39-23 by the end of the third.
“Especially in practices, we’ve worked a lot on breaking the press because we knew they would play aggressive,” Noble said. “They’re a great pressing team and they go all four quarters. We knew we needed to be calm and composed, because if we tried to go crazy, we couldn’t do what we wanted.”
The Hilltoppers’ tough play also gave them plenty of trips to the charity stripe in the contest, attempting 32 shots and making 22 of them. Junior Nina Hendricksun led the way with eight of her 14 points coming from the free-throw line.
“I don’t really know the math on that, but that’s pretty good,” Faulkner said. “You never know how a game is going to be called, but you have to capitalize on those opportunities. We’ve got to keep working on them, but good to get some points from there.”
It was that pace that the North Stars (17-7) could not keep up with throughout the contest. Alongside the rebounding struggles, the North Stars faced foul trouble early into the contest, which led to them finishing each quarter trailing by double digits.
“It’s been a thing for us all year,” North Stars coach Grant Oler said. “When we get the rebound, we’re pretty good. When we don’t, we leave a lot to be desired, and we left something to be desired. We know we’re definitely capable of better.”
Oler said there was some good in the contest, specifically in 3-point shooting. After only making one in each of their last two games, the North Stars made seven between junior Lelanie Posada (18 points) and senior Sydney Johnson (11 points).
And with playoff seedings and the end of conference play coming around soon, it was a well-worth look for the program.
“It was a great opportunity to see a team in the sectional at home late in the season in a postseason kind of atmosphere,” Oler said. “And we’ve got big games against Wheaton Warrenville South and Lake Park coming up too. We’ve just got to make sure we’re not the team getting rocked again.”