Glenbard North finds winning formula
With 6-foot-3 senior center Katie Wisniewski and senior guard Amy Falson, Glenbard North has the ability for a strong inside-outside offensive attack.
“(Our key is) just all of us learning to play together and confident and how to play our offense that (coach John Chamberlain) set up,” Falson said. “It’s been working and we’ve been playing with good teams. As long as we play together and listen to our coach, we’ll be good.”
With the Panthers holding a slim lead Tuesday at Glenbard East, the offense showed confidence in Falson, and she delivered. Her eight consecutive points on two 3-pointers and free throws in the final 4:22 secured a deceptively comfortable 36-22 DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball victory in Lombard.
Falson scored 12 points and Wisniewski 11 to pace the Panthers (4-5, 2-0), who previously beat the Rams (1-7, 0-3) at their Rachel Bach Tournament 33-28 Nov. 21.
“The past games my shots haven’t been falling so the 3s were big,” Falson said. “We had to stretch out the offense a little bit and look for different options other than (Wisniewski). It was mostly all confidence.”
Wisniewski had two baskets in the first quarter but had no shots in the second and the Panthers only led 13-11 at halftime.
Then Wisniewski scored seven of nine Glenbard North points in one stretch of the second half, collecting three easy inside baskets from passes by Jennifer Deegan, Caitlyn Deegan and Kailey James to create a 26-18 advantage with 7:37 left.
When the Rams refocused on Wisniewski, enter Falson and consecutive 3-point shots from the left corner.
“She’s a good shooter, very good shooter. (Her 3s) were big,” Chamberlain said. “They wanted to swarm (Wisniewski) so we had to find other things to do in the offense. It took us a while, but Amy at the end was big.”
The Rams still hung close throughout the third quarter. They closed to 26-20 with 6:28 left on Rachael Leifheit’s basket but then went scoreless until the final minute.
“Falson’s a really good shooter. That kind of sealed the game for them,” Glenbard East coach Don Finnie said. “We were trying help-side on (Wisniewski) and couldn’t get back out on her.”
The Rams were 6-of-36 shooting, 1 for 19 from 3-point range. Allison Hansen and Sammie Symonds each had 5 points.
“We did have some good looks,” Finnie said. “(Our) girls played hard. And they’re a good ballclub.”