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Glenbard South wins defensive battle against Wheaton Academy

Despite old adages that say you should act your age and that you should not be in any hurry to grow up, Maggie Bair and her Glenbard South teammates are not listening.

Bair and the all-underclassmen Raiders starting squad continues to grow up in a hurry and, with Thursday's 37-29 defeat of Wheaton Academy, claimed a share of the Metro Suburban Conference West title. The 6-foot-1 Bair, who starts along with four sophomores, had 15 points and 17 rebounds as Glenbard South closed the regular season at 16-9 overall and 10-2 in conference.

"We know we're real young and we're trying to not act our age," said Bair, who had 6 points and 9 rebounds as the hosts took a 21-11 lead into halftime in Glen Ellyn. "We're trying to act older. I think we're all really stepping up and I think we're going to have a good future."

While this unit's future looks very bright, the present is not looking too shabby either. Bair was dominant inside, Sarah Cohen knocked down a trio of 3s, and all six Raiders who saw action played well on defense. GiDean Helck, the lone senior to play on senior night and the lone reserve to see action, was solid on defense and had a steal and an assist. Senior Payton Carli did not play due to injury.

While Wheaton Academy was missing its first 10 shots and falling behind 8-0, Bair scored twice inside and Ashley Dodge had a layup on the team's first possession and added a pair of free throws.

The Warriors (17-9. 6-6), who had beaten the Raiders earlier this year, trailed 11-5 after one quarter and faced a 10-point deficit at the half before closing to within 28-24 after three quarters.

"You don't dig yourself a hole like that, especially against a good team," Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell said. "I think we played hard in the third quarter, but we can't not play hard in the first two and expect to win the game. We were lucky to be in the game."

The Raiders opened their lead to 33-25 early in the fourth quarter following a pair of free throws by Cohen and a short jumper by Bair, and the defense hung on from there. Jamie Netzley led the Warriors with 10 points and also had 4 steals, but Liana Ledesma with 6 points was the only other Warrior to tally more than 5 points.

"That was a great defensive game," Raiders coach Morgan Kasperek said. "Mady Carli did a fantastic job on (Elizabeth Melby). She held her to 4 points, and Sarah did a great job on (Netzley)."

With regionals next week Kasperek is hoping her young players can continue to grow and improve.

"This is one of those games where you watch them grow up and hopefully they don't go backwards again," she said, after the team matched the 10-2 conference mark recorded by Riverside-Brookfield, which lost twice to Glenbard South this season. "They did a lot of nice things and Maggie played great for us."

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