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Third-quarter surge lifts Glenbard South

Looking for early-season trends? How about Glenbard South and third quarters?

The Raiders scored the first 15 points of the second half, turning a close girls basketball game into a blowout in a matter of minutes Tuesday night at the Rachel Bach Tournament at Glenbard East. The Raiders won 43-30 to place second in the round-robin tournament.

It followed a good third quarter in Monday's victory against host Glenbard East.

The Raiders (2-1) led 19-16 at halftime Tuesday.

"We just started out kind of scared," Raiders junior forward Iman Sellars said. "They were playing great defense, really aggressive and it kind of got to us. But it took that halftime to get it back together and we just came out really strong and confident. We were ready."

"That was our first game with a real physical team, and I think it showed," added Raiders coach Morgan Eufrasio. "I think it took us a minute to figure out how to play against it again. We haven't seen that yet."

Rocky LaPonte got the third-quarter run started, then put the lead in double digits to stay with a 3-pointer that made the score 28-16 with 5:24 left in the period. A Sellars score made it 34-16, the biggest lead of the game.

Alyssa Havard's two free throws for Glenbard North ended the run with 2:17 to go in the quarter.

Sellars finished with a game-best 14 points, adding 5 rebounds.

"I think just getting to the basket and knowing I'm going to take contact and I just have to be strong with it," Sellars said. "And that worked out for us pretty well."

"I was really proud of Iman," Eufrasio added. "We just talked to her at half and we said you need to take your time and put someone on your back. And Iman has that capability, she just hasn't done it. So that was nice to see Iman do that."

Lauren Cohen added 13 points for the Raiders, and LaPonte scored 7.

"I thought Lauren did a great job just controlling us," Eufrasio said. "She made some great passes. And Gianna (Coluzzi, a sophomore forward) did a wonderful defensive job. I think most people don't see that."

The third quarter caught the Panthers wanting to check the video for clues.

"I don't know what happened to us because we were battling," Glenbard North coach Steve Wit said. "We knew our game plan in the first half, and we had lots of shots in that first half that could have really helped us. It's practice, it's a little bit of confidence and courage to step up and play. But that third quarter, I've got to watch the film. I'm at a loss for words."

Junior Olivia Kulig led the Panthers (0-4) with 10 points. Junior Olivia Corona added 8.

"Kulig, she's really just kind of a quiet kid that keeps working hard," Wit said. "We talk about getting her more touches. The more touches she gets, kind of the better we play. We got her touches early then kind of got away from her in the second quarter. And I'm not sure she touched it at all in the third quarter."

Glenbard West won the tournament, completing a 3-0 tourney record with a 58-33 victory against Glenbard East.

Maggie Stutelberg scored a game-high 17 points for the Hilltoppers (4-1), and Taylor Huff added 14.

Lauren Huber led the Rams with 15 points and Emily Ryan had 12.

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