Hinsdale Central holds on to beat Glenbard West
Hinsdale Central guard Paige Bareck has an interesting take on what it is like to play in Senior Night games.
"It's actually more difficult than you think because it is very emotional at the beginning and you just have this passion," Bareck said. "You really want to win, but you're also so nervous because you have the pressure to win."
The pressure was on the host Red Devils on Tuesday night and it showed. After Bareck and fellow seniors Riley Burr, Gracie Hartzman, Abbi Shaker and Elle Schaefer were honored in pregame ceremonies, the Red Devils shot only 26 percent against Glenbard West.
But Bareck scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Red Devils staved off a late comeback by the Hilltoppers to win 40-35.
The victory kept Hinsdale Central's dream of a West Suburban Conference Silver Division championship alive.
The Red Devils (18-7, 8-3) are in second place behind Proviso West (9-2), which played Lyons Twp. on Tuesday. A Proviso West loss coupled with a Hinsdale Central win over Lyons on Saturday would give the Red Devils a share of the league title and a berth in the WSC championship game.
"Our seniors gutted it out," Hinsdale Central coach Tom McKenna said. "That's about as poorly as we've shot all year. We just couldn't put the ball in the basket. But I'll take it; it's a win."
Both teams struggled to score, combining to shoot 5 for 33 from 3-point range. Glenbard West (14-10, 3-8) shot 4 for 22 overall in the first half while the Red Devils went 7 for 29.
Even Bareck wasn't immune, missing her first five shots.
"I heard that in Central history senior nights are not really good nights for the team," Bareck said. "We usually lose with all the pressure, but our team is special this year.
"We were a little off at first, but we fought through it."
The Red Devils took their first lead, 6-4, on two Bareck free throws and never trailed again. They led by as many as 9 in the second half, but forward Samantha Skirvin tallied 6 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, three times pulling the Hilltoppers within 4 points.
The visitors cut the gap to 38-35 on an NBA-range 3-pointer by Sammy Harris with 12 seconds left.
Harris nearly stole the inbounds pass, but Bareck won the battle and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 with 6.7 ticks left to ice it. Bareck made all 8 of her foul shots, 6 of which came in the final 1:21.
"It took too long for us to find the bottom of the basket tonight," Glenbard West coach Karen Persinger said. "I really felt like we got some really nice looks at the basket the first half and they just couldn't get them to go in.
"My kids played hard. They made a push at the end. We just ran out of clock."
Burr had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Hinsdale Central. Center Jamiyah Thomas added 8 points and 8 boards for Glenbard West.