Wheaton North stymies Glenbard East

In a game dominated by defense and marred by fouls, Wheaton North's stifling effort won out, as the Falcons downed Glenbard East 52-35 on Tuesday night in Lombard.

It took a while for both teams to settle down as each offense struggled to cope with the swarming play on defense.

"Intense defense I mean, they are in your face," Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller said. "It's really hard to get good, solid rhythm shots off."

Both coaches praised the physical play of the opposing team after the game, but it was Wheaton North's suffocating defense in the first half that proved too much for the Rams, who committed 14 turnovers in the first half. The Falcons used those turnovers to stake a 24-11 lead at the half.

Senior guard Fantasia Vine led the way, shooting 3 of 3 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the line with all 10 of her points coming in the second quarter. Wheaton North coach David Eaton praised Vine's talent, but said that balance on the offensive end is the objective.

The Falcons ended with three players scoring in double digits Vine had 10, and junior guards Maddie Baillie and Sydney Sharkey had 11 points each.

"Fantasia is obviously a fantastic player, but she doesn't have to score for us to be successful," Eaton said. "We tell them we want as many kids in double figures, we don't really want one kid with 30 and the next kid with 4, so we try to spread the ball around offensively."

With all the physical play, fouls and free throws played a huge role in the outcome as well. Both teams got into the bonus in each half, and two Wheaton North players fouled out. Glenbard East could not take advantage of all the trips to the foul line, however. The Rams shot just 9 of 26 from the free-throw line, something Miller said wasn't typical.

"We're not an exceptional team maybe about 58 percent but that was way less than that," she said.

Glenbard East plays next at West Chicago on Saturday afternoon, a team it lost to by only 3 points earlier in the year. Wheaton North will look to avenge its own 48-45 loss earlier in the year to West Chicago when it plays the Wildcats on Thursday night on the road.