Carli, Glenbard South cruise past ACC

Glenbard South junior Payton Carli might be one of the shorter players on the basketball court, but that doesn't mean she won't come up big, even in the paint where some of the much taller players reside.

In Tuesday's Metro Suburban Conference West Division opener against visiting Aurora Central Catholic, the Raiders' 5-foot-5 guard led all scorers with 17 points in a 63-41 defeat of the Chargers, who came to town with a 4-0 record. Carli also had 7 rebounds and 3 steals as the Raiders improved to 5-1 on the year.

"We have really good chemistry on the court and we just know where everybody is going to be," said Carli, who had 8 points at the half as the hosts took a 33-23 lead into the intermission. "The experience really helps. From last year going into this year it's really helpful having played together."

Another of the key Raiders' veterans is 6-3 senior center Sydney Bauman, who had 15 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots against ACC. The SIU-Edwardsville recruit has been giving the team a force down low for years now, but that's not to say quick guards like Carli, Jenna Brambora and Ivana Markovic are afraid to drive the lane against taller opponents and join Bauman in the paint.

Shooting from the outside, feeding the posts and driving the rim are all key parts of the Raiders offense. The attack worked well as the team made 19 of 30 free throws compared to just 5 points from the stripe for the Chargers.

"We have good posts and we have good shooting from the outside so everybody contributes," Carli said. "All of our guards, we're not afraid to go in and take the post spot and go in strong. We'll go in on the big guys even though we're short."

While Glenbard South was doing a little of everything, ACC struggled from the free-throw line, had a hard time scoring down low and had to settle for a lot of perimeter shots. Veronica Lavia paced the visitors with 9 points after knocking down a trio of long-range shots, but ACC made just 8 of 28 from beyond the arc while dropping the conference opener. Gabi Alfaro was next with 8 points, including a pair of 3s.

"We were cold and the free-throw stripe hurt us tonight," ACC coach Mark Fitzgerald said of his team's 5-of-16 effort from the line. "It's a good learning opportunity for our kids. We're not 20 points worse than they are."

For the Raiders, Markovic had 11 points to give the team three players in double figures, and Sarah Cohen added a pair of 3-pointers off the bench.

"We're hard to defend," said coach Julie Fonda, whose Raiders play at Fenton on Friday. "We go inside, we go outside, we shoot the 3 and we can drive. There's a lot to us."