Bartlett takes second at Wheaton North

The Glenbrook South girls basketball team had its backs against the wall on Saturday night when they fell behind 11-2 against Bartlett in the championship game of the Falcon Classic at Wheaton North.

However, enter Annie Streb, who came off the bench to help rescue the day for the Titans. The junior scored a game-high 15 points to help Glenbrook South capture the tournament title for the first time in 4 years with a 52-43 victory.

"She really gave us a big lift off the bench," Glenbrook South coach Steve Wessenstein said. "We were having trouble scoring and she came in and started making some big shots to get us going. We have a real resilient team and I'm just proud of the way they all battled back."

Streb scored 10 points in the second quarter alone all on drives to the basket as the Titans outscored the Hawks 17-10 to erase the early deficit and pull ahead 26-24 at halftime.

"I knew we had to change the momentum around," Streb said. "So, I was just trying to make something happen. I usually don't drive to the basket that much because I get a lot of my shots blocked. But I just decided to really go for it and they started to go in."

Streb scored 6 more points in the third quarter to help Glenbrook South stay in the lead the rest of the way.

Challen Flaws was also was a big contributor for the Titans with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Bartlett still only trailed 39-38 early in the third quarter when Flaws hit a 3-pointer that started the Titans on a 13-5 run to close out the game.

"Challen and Annie were great," Wessenstein said. "We don't usually count on them for a lot of scoring, but they really came through for us tonight when we needed them. I also thought our defense was much better in the second half at limiting touches and drives to the basket."

The tournament win was a nice turnaround after tough losses to New Trier and Benet.

"I think the biggest thing we can come away from this tournament is we learned how to win some close games," Wessenstein said. "We had lost a couple just before the tournament, so to be able to come back and win a few in this tournament is really going to help us moving forward."

The loss for Bartlett snapped a 13-game win streak, but didn't take away from a strong showing by the Hawks, who knocked off top-seeded Wheaton North in the semifinals.

"As young as we are to be able to come here against some really tough competition and finish second is really nice," Bartlett coach Brad Hunt said. "I'm really pleased with the way we are playing and where we are at right now, but there's still work to do. The streak was nice, but I think a really good team tonight exposed a few of our weaknesses tonight. We'll work on those and try to finish the last six weeks strong."

Alexis Sinclair had 12 points to lead the Hawks in scoring. Sinclair and MacKenzie Hare were named to the all-tournament team.