Glenbard West hands Minooka its second loss
A little holiday break appears to have been the perfect remedy for the Glenbard West girls basketball team.
The Hilltoppers suffered back-to-back losses just before Christmas and then returned to action Wednesday afternoon at the Lincoln-Way East Medieval Classic. Using a combination of strength down low and strong guard play, Glenbard West opened the holiday tourney with an impressive 64-53 defeat of a Minooka team that entered play with a 14-1 record.
Reserve Emma Hall hit a 3-pointer late in the first quarter for a 21-14 Hilltoppers lead, which grew to 35-25 at halftime and reached 20 points in the third quarter behind a balanced attack that saw all five starters score in double figures.
"I think this game was huge for us because we came in after losing two games to really good teams," senior guard Katie O'Shea said, referring to recent losses to Downers Grove North and Wheaton Warrenville South. "We really just needed a win to get us in the right direction. We used our height and we were dominant down there. Since they were double- and triple- teaming our posts, we also had to use our guards."
O'Shea dropped in a 3-pointer in the first quarter before two fouls limited her minutes in the second quarter. She then exploded for 10 of her 13 points in the third quarter as Glenbard West extended its lead to 20 points before taking a 56-39 advantage into the fourth quarter.
O'Shea connected on a trio of 3s and Maggie Stutelberg and Hall each added a pair, but the Hilltoppers also took it to the Indians in the paint, as post players Taylor Huff and Niki Adamski were forces. The 6-foot-1 Adamski had 11 points but also blocked a couple shots and came away with a pair of steals. Katelyn Heller completed the starting lineup's double-digit scoring performance by tallying 10 points and pulling in 7 rebounds.
"Yeah, that's cool. I think that's the first time that's happened," Stutelberg said of each starter recording at least 10 points. "We had a good run after halftime. We kind of came together."
In addition to the team's eight 3-pointers and muscle around the rim, Stutelberg, who had 3 steals in the game, credited the Hilltoppers transition game with helping knock off a strong Minooka squad.
Minooka's only other loss was to Wheaton North at the Lyons Twp. Thanksgiving tournament.
"It was our transition," she said. "We have a drill that we do at every practice, working on getting up the court and getting layups and stuff. It's a good drill and it helps a lot. We had two losses (in a row) and this was a nice game to come out of our slump."
A couple losses against solid foes does not really add up to a slump, but Hilltoppers coach Kristi Faulkner was ready to see her team snap back on track in its first game after Christmas.
"They made their run in the fourth quarter and we fought through that," said Faulkner, noting the Indians did close to within 58-49. "Eventually we stayed tough and we got buckets when we needed to so it was good to play a full 32-minute game.
"It was kind of a reset button for us (after the two losses). We talked about learning from the past and about yesterday's loss is today's lesson and we worked on that. And we talked about some goals and about ways to get going forward and this was a good start."
The Hilltoppers resume pool play at the Medieval Classic with a 12:30 p.m. Thursday game against Bloom. In Wednesday's early game Bloom fell to Lincoln-Way Central 53-35.