Glenbard South doubles up Aurora Central Catholic
Facing a zone defense for the second consecutive game, Glenbard South's girls basketball team was poised and ready for the challenge Thursday night.
Connecting on 61 percent of their shots from the field (23 for 38), including a torrid 10 of 19 from beyond the 3-point arc, the Raiders (8-1, 4-0) punctured holes in Aurora Central Catholic's zone defense during their 60-30 Metro Suburban Blue victory in Aurora.
"We've played ACC in the past so we know how they run their zone," said Raiders coach Morgan Kasperek, whose team earned its eighth straight win after a 45-26 season-opening loss to defending Class 4A state champion Geneva last month.
"It's good for us. We need to work against a zone. It's what we did all day in practice yesterday. I thought the girls handled it really well."
That may be an understatement.
During the middle two quarters - when Glenbard South outscored ACC 37-18 - the Raiders blistered the nets on 15 of 18 shooting from the floor, including 6 of 8 from 3-point territory.
Clinging to a 13-12 lead early in the second quarter, the Raiders went on a 15-0 surge to take control of the game.
Ignited by a pair of baskets from Ally Daca (15 points), the run included back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore guard Raquel LaPonte (12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and a 3-pointer from Mady Carli (9 points, 4 assists).
"We did a nice job when we slowed down and gathered ourselves against the zone," said Kasperek. "At the end, they had us a little frazzled and in the beginning, they had us a little frazzled but once we slowed down and took our time, I thought our team looked really good.
"Raquel LaPonte did an awesome job stepping up and hitting open threes," added the coach. "She shot well and she shot with confidence on that weak side of the zone."
Maggie Bair, who sat out the entire second quarter after bring whistled for her second foul with 1:09 left in the first quarter, returned with a vengeance in the third quarter.
The 6-foot-3 junior forward hit all 6 of her field-goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, on her way to scoring 15 points in 8 minutes.
Bair finished with a game-high 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals.
"We were patient," said senior guard Sarah Cohen, who helped limit Chargers sophomore guard Delani Kosner to 3 points. "We looked for open spots on the court. We've been working on those long diagonal passes."
"Sarah is an amazing defender," Kasperek said of Cohen. "I think that's the one thing on our team that we feed off of and benefit from. Sarah can shut down almost anyone."
Alexis Camp paced the Chargers (5-3, 3-2) with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.