Game takes a left turn for Daca, Glenbard South
Ally Daca went left and Glenbard South was all right.
Daca, who is right-handed, had been struggling to score in recent games, so assistant coach Steve Gross gave her a counterintuitive command.
"He told her that if she doesn't take some lefties, then he'll have to give her consequences and we don't like consequences from him," Glenbard South center Maggie Bair said. "She did really well."
Indeed, Daca made a point, literally, of driving to the basket left-handed, and it paid off. The junior scored the first 7 points of the game, all off assists from Bair, and the host Raiders rolled to a 51-24 victory over Wheaton Academy on Friday.
Daca sank five of her first six shots and finished with 11 points, all in the first quarter, as Glenbard South took a 16-7 lead.
"It was only left hands for me tonight," Daca said. "It was a game where I challenged myself to go left hand. That was a good pressure for me."
Daca's early success took the pressure off the Raiders (14-4, 7-0 Metro Suburban Blue), who extended their winning streak to seven games.
Bair had a huge game, scoring 12 of her game-high 14 points in the final three quarters. The 6-2 sophomore also had 18 rebounds and 7 assists.
"Ally said that she's struggling a little bit and it was good when she scored because her confidence went up and then our team's confidence went up," Bair said. "That helped a lot and everybody just started letting loose."
The Raiders committed 23 turnovers, including 14 in the first half, but their defense was terrific. They held Wheaton Academy (7-12, 1-6) scoreless in the second quarter and went on a 25-2 run to stretch the lead to 41-10.
Guard Mady Carli tallied all 9 of her points during the third quarter, while Bair added 6 points and 6 rebounds.
"We did a nice job going inside early," Glenbard South coach Morgan Kasperek said. "We got real stagnant on offense after the first quarter, but Ally did a nice job getting inside, Sarah (Cohen) did a nice job of passing to the open players and finding everyone and Maggie was great. We played a good team game."
Emily Renn had 13 points to pace the Warriors, who missed their first 12 shots and were 3 for 29 from the floor in the first half.
"They have some nice size, to say the least, and a couple of players that are bigger than I am," Wheaton Academy coach Tory Gum said. "So that makes it a bit of a challenge.
"I thought the (Warriors) did a great job the first five minutes of the game. We did everything we could to disrupt their offense, but they got a couple of looks on the inside with (Daca) and then they started loosening up a bit."