Short-handed Glenbard South withstands Fenton comeback

Glenbard South held on, and now it holds its breath.

The Raiders escaped Fenton with a 39-36 win Friday night after nearly blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, but in the process they might have suffered a bigger loss.

Junior guard Stefi Bazigos, the Raiders’ leading scorer, came down hard flying in for a layup in the final minute of the first half. Bazigos left the game, went to the locker room, and returned midway through the third quarter with her arm in a sling.

“We don’t know yet. She’ll go to her doctor, and we’ll see what happens,” Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda said. “I hope it’s not a fracture, but it could be. She landed pretty hard. She’s a tough kid. When I go over there and she’s in serious pain, there’s something wrong.”

Glenbard South’s bench is a little thin for the time being. Bazigos joins sophomores Taylor Malone and Jenna Brambora, both out with knee sprains, among the walking wounded. The latter two should be back next week. When Sydney Bauman picked up her third foul midway through the first half, the bench got even thinner.

Still, the Raiders (16-5, 7-1 Metro Suburban Conference) got it done with suffocating pressure defense.

Glenbard South held Fenton (14-8. 4-4) without a field goal for a stunning stretch of 22 minutes, 9 seconds, a span that covered the entire second and third quarters. A 12-0 run turned a 19-16 Glenbard South lead into a 31-16 advantage on a transition basket by Megan Smith midway through the third quarter.

Fenton kept within sniffing distance at the free-throw line. The Bison, who went the last 6:53 of the first half with leading scorer Sidney Montano out with two fouls, went 20 for 28 at the line.

“In basketball there’s going to be contact, and the game was called really tight,” Fonda said. “We sent them to the free-throw line way too much. Once you know the way the ref is calling it, you got to play defense with your feet.”

The margin was still 15 with 5:23 left in the game after a Tomei Ball basket.

Fenton, though, found out first hand this week that no game is completely over, having lost a 9-point lead with a minute left in regulation in an overtime loss to St. Viator.

Tina Guarino’s 3-pointer with 1:51 left finally ended the drought from the field, Dana Fritz hit a 3, and a pair of Fritz free throws made it 39-33 with 44.8 seconds left. Glenbard South missed 6 free throws in the final quarter, but Fenton never drew closer than Fritz’s 3 with 0.3 seconds on the clock.

“I wasn’t throwing in the towel,” Fenton coach Tim Anderson said. “Tina made a 3, and Dana knocked one down and all of a sudden it got really interesting. They had us well in hand, but you never know.”

Ball had 10 points and 8 rebounds and Ivana Markovic 9 points and 9 rebounds for Glenbard South. Montano paced Fenton with 12 points and Fritz and Guarino added 11 each.

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