Cohen steadies Glenbard South in win vs. Fenton
How much does a coach value an experienced ballhandler like Lauren Cohen when playing Fenton and its chaotic system?
"I mean, immensely," said Glenbard South coach Morgan Eufrasio after her team defeated the run-and-gun Bison 51-32 Friday night in Bensenville. "Lauren does such a nice job running our team and making sure everyone's in the right spot. Especially in a game like this, it's hard to go where you're supposed to go because it's so crazy, and she just does a nice job controlling us, saying let's go."
Still just a junior, the Glenbard South point guard already owns two girls basketball state medals. Cohen scored 19 points and just as importantly provided the Raiders (3-2, 1-1) a steady hand in the Upstate Eight Conference game.
"It definitely does help," Cohen said of her state finals experience. "Fenton's a really fast-tempo game and they work hard the entire game, and going downstate is the exact same way. Everyone's putting everything out on the court. Just the speed and the tempo is the exact same, so it was nice having experience."
That experienced helped when Fenton (3-3, 0-3) hit four of its first eight 3-point shots and took a 14-12 lead after one quarter.
"I was very, very impressed with our first quarter," said Fenton coach Dave Mello. "And then the second quarter we weren't making shots, but I thought we were still doing a lot of what we want to do. And being so young, for them to get that kind of experience now against Glenbard South ... I think we're in a really good spot."
The Raiders scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take the lead for good.
"It's a challenge for us to try and slow down the basketball and play at our speed the first couple of quarters," Eufrasio said. "I mean they had us moving and going and they beat us the first quarter. We just had to figure out how to slow down and really play defense and box out and do all the little things. But they did a nice job speeding us up and making us play their game."
Glenbard South's preferred style of play is the opposite of Fenton's, slow and deliberate with a big emphasis on defense. The Raiders the past two seasons held Fenton to 32 fewer 3-point shots than the Bison's season average.
That held true again Friday. Fenton attempted just 26 shots from 3-point range. For a team that attempted more than 3,000 3-pointers the past two seasons combined and hangs two banners in its gym celebrating national records for 3-point attempts, 26 isn't many.
"They still took a ton of shots and made plenty," Cohen said. "They shouldn't have gotten that many. But I think we did a good job."
The good news for the Bison, however, was the eight 3-pointers they made. That 30 percent rate shows progress as the Bison continue to rebuild their program.
"If you would have told me before the game we were going to make eight 3s, I would have told you it was a heck of a night," Mello said. "They're such a great program and they're so skilled in their defense - and their offense is obviously good as well - but they went downstate with their defense and their patience."
Iman Sellars added 10 points for the Raiders off the bench.