Stutelberg, Glenbard West ready for Addison Trail
Maggie Stutelberg and her Glenbard West girls basketball teammates set the tone for Tuesday's Class 4A Glenbard West regional semifinal right from the start.
No. 6 seed Glenbard West got out to a big lead and cruised to a 62-14 victory against No. 12 Addison Trail (12-15) in Glen Ellyn.
“It was fun to see, and being home for regionals is a special opportunity for us and it was great to see everybody got in the game,” Glenbard West coach Kristi Faulkner said. “The energy that the team brought out to start in terms of pushing the ball, getting everybody involved. And then defensively it was nice to see we held them in that first quarter.”
Stutelberg scored 15 points to stake Glenbard West (19-10) to a 20-0 lead after one quarter.
“I feel like we always talk about just dominating the first three minutes,” Stutelberg said. “But I guess it was the first quarter. But the first three minutes, just totally dominate. And I think the reason we were up so much was just the hustle plays, diving on the floor and just wanting the ball.”
She scored 23 points in the game, all in the first half, making 6 of her 8 shots from 3-point range. The score was 33-4 at halftime.
Senior center Taylor Huff returned to the Glenbard West lineup after missing three weeks with a knee injury, scoring 6 points.
“I feel like a lot adrenaline coming,” Stutelberg said. “Taylor was back, so we have our team back to together. Going into the game, going to playoffs too, we have just so much energy and wanted to just leave it all on the floor, so that's what we did.
Stutelberg also had 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
“Maggie's had a lot of great games this season, and it's just fun to see her play with that confidence and that swagger,” Faulkner said. “She's doing other things. You always see the shooting, but she's crashing the (offensive) boards, she's posting up a little bit.”
Addison Trail ended its season 12-15 despite losing sophomore point guard Quiana Birmingham to an ankle injury the last few games.
“We had some improvement,” said first-year Blazers coach Cory Little. “Losing my point guard hurt. Losing her hurt a lot because she was a very important, key part of our team. Without her on the floor at times we struggled, because she's good. She's real good and she can control certain games.”
The Hilltoppers advance to play No. 4 seed Wheaton North at 7 p.m. Thursday in the regional final.