Glenbard South rolls past Timothy Christian
The Glenbard South girls basketball team showed in Tuesday night’s 61-17 win at Timothy Christian the value of defense.
“We’re playing great defensive basketball right now and that’s tough to play against,” said Raiders coach Julie Fonda. “It was phenomenal tonight.”
That defense played a big factor in more than 20 turnovers for the Trojans (1-4, 0-1 Metro Suburban Conference) and the outcome being decided early.
The Raiders (3-3, 1-0) led 21-3 after the first eight minutes on 8-of-16 shooting from the field while Timothy Christian managed just 1 of 10.
Glenbard South cooled a little to 40 percent in the second quarter but carried a 35-3 advantage into halftime.
The Raiders’ offense was balanced with Steffy Bazigos hitting for a game-high 12 points. Megan Smith had 10 and Ivana Markovic hit for 8 and Alex LaPonte 7.
“There were a little bit of holes in the offense, but it’s relatively early in the season,” Fonda said. “My biggest praise is for their effort. They played 32 minutes of basketball.
“The Thanksgiving tournament games were a great challenge. We’re 3-3 and I’m definitely happy with that. The (Thanksgiving) games will only prepare us. I think this team will surprise some people in the long run.”
The Trojans’ Kaitlyn Gehrke led her team with 6 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, helping her team stay with the Raiders on the boards, trailing just 33-30.
Timothy Christian went into the season returning no starters from last winter’s 15-win team and just two seniors who saw limited playing time.
“I was pleased with the rebounding and our effort. We had been struggling with rebounding and boxing out. We need to work on passing and shooting,” said first-year Timothy Christian coach Michelle Strube. “I’m trying to get them not to look at the big picture of where we are from last season and work on the little things. We’re a young team. This is a new team.”
Both teams return to MSC action later this week. Glenbard South plays host to Illiana Christian at 7 p.m. Thursday. Timothy Christian travels to Ridgewood for a 1 p.m. contest Saturday.