'Underdog' Glenbard South brings home second place
NORMAL - Glenbard South wasn't ranked in the AP Class 3A rankings all season. The Raiders left Redbird Arena on Saturday afternoon with medals around their necks and a big second-place state trophy to carry.
Downstate powerhouse Morton jumped out to a big first-quarter lead and held on to beat the Raiders 35-21 in the state championship game.
“I would argue I don't know why they're not ranked,” Morton coach Bob Becker said. “You go through the whole season not ranked. They finished third last year. I would consider that team playing with a chip on their shoulders, something to prove.”
“Every playoff game we played we had the underdog mentality,” Raiders senior center Maggie Bair added. “We came in knowing that we had nothing to lose every single game. I think that that kind of takes the pressure of you sometimes. Yeah, it just feels incredible to know that we worked hard to get here and nobody thought we could do it. We didn't even think we could do it at the beginning.”
It didn't work out for the Raiders in the final, though.
Morton got off to what Becker called a “phenomenal start.” The Potters scored the game's first 15 points, with Raquel LaPonte scoring first for the Raiders (27-8) on a 3-pointer.
“They're an incredible team, and we expected that,” Bair said. “We came out and we were definitely scared. I think we were just intimidated.”
The Potters (33-3) led 17-3 after one quarter, 24-5 after two.
Glenbard South made 2 of 14 shots in the first half with 10 turnovers.
“We didn't compete in the first half,” Raiders coach Morgan Kasperek said. “We took a lot of quick shots off one or two passes, and that's not something we can do.”
Sophomore guard Lauren Cohen started the third quarter with a 3-pointer, then drove the basket for another 2 points. Bair added another two baskets, and the Raiders had a 9-0 run going until Potters freshman forward Katie Krupa hit a pair of free throws with 2.7 seconds left in the quarter. Morton's scoring drought totaled more than nine minutes.
“I thought as a coach, they're not going to go away, they're not going to roll over,” Becker said. “In front of this nice crowd, here at this level. So they made a push, imposed their will on us a little bit in the third quarter.”
That's what the Raiders vowed at halftime.
“We just talked about keeping our heads in the game,” Bair said. “We didn't want to give up. We wanted to go out on a good note. Again, they're a really good team, and if we wanted to be anywhere close to them we had to keep fighting.”
Morton's zone trap press helped them dictate the tempo early. It helped that the Potters featured three agile players 6-foot or taller. Senior guard Tenley Dowell, a Butler recruit, freshman forward Katie Krupa scored 10 points apiece. UAB recruit Lindsey Dullard added 5 points.
“They're long and they're tall, and man, that press scared us to start the game,” Kasperek said. “And once we saw that, we were like, Holy cow, they're huge. And I think that threw us off.”
Glenbard South and Morton each scored 18 points in the final three quarters.
Cohen led the Raiders with 8 points. Bair scored 6 with 5 rebounds and 6 blocked shots, though the official stats credited her with just 2.
“Without the first quarter we played right with them,” Kasperek said. “But again, so proud of this group of kids. We came really, really far and right now it hurts. It hurts a lot because you don't feel like you competed and played the way you could.”