Glenbard East's work in the post beats Addison Trail

Low-post play keyed a 42-24 victory for the Glenbard East girls basketball team in its opener at the Riverside-Brookfield tournament on Monday against Addison Trail.

Rams senior forward Brasia Solid had a game-high 19 points in the post, and the Blazers couldn't play to their strengths in the transition game due to turnovers.

"The low-post game we do have some good low post players," said Rams coach Don Finnie. "We have four of them really and they settle into the post and we can score low and we can also score from the outside. We have a good inside-outside game going on right now, and it's just nice to see."

Glenbard East took advantage early in the first quarter when three straight turnovers from the Blazers allowed the Rams to score on four of their first five possessions.

The Rams got out in front with a 10-2 start thanks to 3-point shots from Brittany Paganucci and Ashley Brown. Solid and Allison Hanson got things going down low with a bucket each.

The Blazers made a bit of an impact, however, putting together a couple good fastbreak baskets, including a 3 by Kelly Delawder to go into the second quarter down just 14-10.

It was the only success Addison Trail found in transition. The Blazers' 29 turnovers slowed the offense.

"We tried and we didn't do a very good job of that today, either trying to get the transition baskets," said Addison Trail coach Rob Schader. "They pressured us a little bit, not even in the full court but in the half court in the first half, and we just turned the ball over too much."

With the Rams outscoring Addison Trail 7-3 in the second, they came out of halftime with a 21-13 lead but a big 8-point quarter from Solid helped Glenbard East tally 11 points and hold off a nice 9-point quarter-ending run for the Blazers.

The push from Addison Trail mainly came from the free-throw line, where it went 7 of 10 in the second half. But just 2 points in the fourth slowed any momentum the Blazers had.

Glenbard East put up 10 points in the fourth quarter while continuing to slow down and put together an offense that thrived down low.

"I think we did really good," Solid said. "We came out the door like we're supposed to do and we showed them that (we're) here for business and it was a team (win)"