Glenbard South closes door on Kaneland

When Glenbard South ran out to a 15-point halftime lead over Kaneland on Friday night in Glen Ellyn, the Raiders' point of emphasis was clear.

Don't let the Knights back into the game.

The Raiders didn't, pulling away for a 61-32 Western Sun Conference victory.

"We've done that in the past and kind of let teams creep back in," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "To close the door was nice to see."

The Raiders (11-7, 6-2) played Kaneland nearly even in the third quarter and closed the door firmly with a 14-3 fourth quarter.

The Raiders offense looked especially strong in the first half when they ran out to a 39-24 lead.

"Thirty-nine points, that's a lot of points for us, but they gave us ample opportunities," Fonda said. "I think we caused a lot of turnovers, and we've been on the wrong end of that lately."

Rebounding also was a factor.

"We had trouble from start to finish with their size," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "We didn't rebound the way we are capable of tonight. That's the difference in the game, second, third, fourth shots. That killed us tonight. We didn't have an answer."

The Knights also had nobody to counter 6-foot-4 Raiders center Nevena Markovic, who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds.

"We worked all week on our offense, blue, which is our post-oriented offense. She was smart about where she was supposed to be," Fonda said. "(Kaneland's Kelly Evers) was on her like glue all night, so for her to rise above, that's a good stepping stone for Nevena right now. She needed that, to be kind of pushed around in a game and still execute and produce for us."

"I just got the ball and I wanted to score," Markovic said. "I got off to a good start."

The bright spot for Kaneland (5-13, 0-7) was junior forward Andie Strang, who scored the Knights' first 9 points. She finished with 12.

"She was hitting shots. She got off to a hot start," Colombe said of Strang. "It was good to see."

Fonda likes what she sees of her team now.

"We're playing good basketball right now," she said, "and they're where I want them to be as far as execution and becoming very confident in our offenses and defenses."