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Glenbard West wears down Rolling Meadows

For a few minutes in the middle of Wednesday night's nonconference girls basketball game, Rolling Meadows had Glenbard West on the run.

"Someone whispered, their defense is too good, coach, what do we do? What do we do?" Hilltoppers junior forward Jamiyah Thomas said. "Someone said that. And then everybody, we just kept hyping each other. The bench was included. Everyone was all in."

The small and quick Mustangs forced the bigger Hilltoppers to run with them for a while. But the Hilltoppers settled down in the fourth quarter and turned an even game into a 60-48 victory in Glen Ellyn by using their size advantage.

"They're probably the biggest team we've seen this year. And they're not just big," Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky said of the Hilltoppers. "They're good and they have good guards. I mean they're a really solid team. I'm extremely proud of our kids. I think they executed a lot of the things that we wanted to do and put ourselves in a position, but they're a great team."

Glenbard West (18-3) found its rhythm early, taking a 19-8 first-quarter lead on a Thomas three-point play. But Rolling Meadows (14-7) stormed back in the second quarter to tie the game at halftime, forcing the Hilltoppers into five turnovers and 2-of-13 shooting in the period.

The third quarter was more of the same, with 8 lead changes and 2 ties in the quarter.

"They played really hard," Hilltoppers coach Kristi Faulkner said of the Mustangs. "They played really scrappy. They played really tough. I was impressed with how they're well-coached. But they were all out, 100 percent the whole game. It was like a track meet, up and down, and it was a good test."

"That's what we do every day," added Kirkorsky, whose tallest starter was 5-foot-10 sophomore Susannah Holifield. "That's what practice looks like every day. We really thrive on that chaos."

The Hilltoppers went back to the 6-1 Thomas and 6-2 sophomore Taylor Huff in the fourth quarter, and it paid off. Huff finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Thomas added 13 points and 7 rebounds.

"We tried to play our game and not get caught up in playing a track meet," Faulkner said.

We had to realize that we wanted it more than them, because they were getting after us," Thomas added.

Glenbard West junior guard Katelyn Heller added 11 points, and senior point guard Sammy Harris went 8 of 8 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter for 8 points.

Bridget Rolla led Rolling Meadows with 13 points, and Melissa Spiwak and Alexa Davis scored 11 apiece.

Images: Rolling Meadows vs. Glenbard West, girls basketball

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