Glenbard South breaks sectional skid
GENOA - For the last six seasons Glenbard South made an annual trip to the sectional semifinals. They hadn't managed a single sectional win.
On Tuesday night the Raiders finally got off the schneid.
Glenbard South bested Rockford Lutheran in the Class 3A Genoa-Kingston sectional semifinals 31-27. And on a night when buckets were hard to come by, it was Glenbard South's defense that carried it through.
"We did a nice job. (Rockford Lutheran guard Madison Davis) is a phenomenal player. She can shoot from anywhere and she can post up so she's a tough matchup and I thought our little freshman guard (Lauren Cohen) did a great job on her," Glenbard South coach Morgan Kasperek said. "Defense is our backbone on this basketball team, so I love it. I'd rather us have to play defense to stop you than the other way around."
In the first quarter Glenbard South came out quickly, posting a 7-2 run over the first 2:20 for an early lead. The Raiders used their size inside to overwhelm the smaller Crusaders and used a 7-3 rebounding advantage in the first quarter to power a 13-8 lead.
However, in the second quarter offense became relatively difficult to come by for Glenbard South. The Raiders missed their last five shots and Rockford Lutheran crawled back into the game.
A coast-to-coast layup off a steal by sophomore Ambranette Storr just before the buzzer cut the Glenbard South lead to 19-15 at the half. It was one of 10 first-half turnovers that plagued the Raiders.
"We started to just settle for 3s. They were going in early and it was like that's all we wanted to shoot," Kasperek said. "So I did not like our shot selection."
In the third quarter those offensive struggles continued for the Raiders. After making their first field-goal attempt of the period, Glenbard South missed seven consecutive shots and looked generally disjointed. Rockford Lutheran tied the game at 21 with a driving layup by Storr with 20 seconds remaining in the quarter.
However, the Raiders got some scripted offense at the buzzer when Mady Carli found Maggie Bair under the hoop for a quick score to make it 23-21 entering the fourth quarter.
"We didn't score much in that third quarter, so that was a big bucket and we knew we had to build on that and just get the confidence that we could make those shots," Kasperek said.
Bair led the Raiders with 8 points on the night. Sarah Cohen, Ally Daca and Carli all chipped in 7 points each. However, Bair made her biggest impression on the defensive end of the floor with 13 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
"Our coaches stress defense every day at practice," Bair said. "If we're not scoring we get back on defense and we all do as much as we can to make up for not making shots and I think it's really important that if we're not on that night, we're on on defense."
In the fourth quarter the game continued to grind, but Glenbard South got timely buckets when they needed them most. Carli answered a Rockford Lutheran 3-pointer with a three-point play to make it 29-24 with 4:21 remaining.
And when the Crusaders cut the lead to 2 once again, it was Bair who scored the biggest points of the night. She snatched a critical free throw and was fouled. With the Raiders in the bonus, Bair hit both her first and second free throws with 13.8 seconds on the clock to extend the lead to 31-27.
"Glenbard South has never won a sectional game at all, so I really wanted to put those away so we could secure it," Bair said. "It's just a good feeling. I was nervous, but I knew that I could do it."
The Raiders held on to that lead until the final whistle. They'll now face Sycamore at 7 p.m. Thursday for the sectional title.