Lee, Glenbard North drop West Chicago

Glenbard North 5-foot-8 junior Lauren Lee can play every position on the floor. Out of necessity, she usually does.

Lee scored 12 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 steals to lead the Panthers to a 43-27 nonconference girls basketball victory Thursday at West Chicago. Her two 3-pointers in the third quarter were part of a 16-0 run that broke open what had been a 5-point game at halftime.

"Last year I played guard most of the time," Lee said. "But this year we lost (two-time All-Area and three-time all-DuPage Valley Conference performer) Jennifer Deegan, our 6-foot post player, so I have to play basically every position now.

"I'm the tallest starter, so I usually start out at the 5," she added. "It's kind of difficult, but I'm getting used to it. I'm still getting my shots up."

West Chicago (1-1) led 7-5 after eight minutes, but the visitors grabbed the lead when the Wildcats' junior Sofia Radice - who finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals - had to go to the bench after picking up her third foul.

"Sophia obviously needs to stay on the floor," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "She needs to be a little smarter."

Glenbard North was nursing a 19-16 lead 2:30 into the second half when Lee hit the first of her two 3-pointers. Leah Miller followed with a basket from beyond the key, and after Lee made a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 29-16, the third-year do-it-all hit her second 3-pointer from the corner.

"(The Panthers) did a good job in the second half," Wallner said. "They came out and increased their pressure. We had a hard time running our offense. They're quick and they're physical and we didn't handle that part of the game.

"They went on a run a couple of times," she added. "We lost some people. We tried to go zone, but we were allowing them to swing the ball pretty quickly and they hit some shots. After that we just lost our composure."

Zakiya Newsome added 7 points and Kayla Quanstrom had 6 points for Glenbard North, which also got contributions from freshmen Brea and Nevaeh King and Arielle Capel.

"Varsity basketball is totally different from middle school, but they've been getting used to it," Lee said. "I think we're looking pretty good. Next week, we start getting into our conference, so it's going to be a little difficult. But I think we can do it. We're up to the task."

Samantha Wiegele had 7 points for West Chicago, which also got 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots from Delaney Doell.

"We can score a little bit, but we're still trying to figure some things out," Wallner said.