Glenbard South snaps Bartlett's 28-game home streak
Despite being short-handed due to illnesses, Glenbard South's girls basketball team accomplished something Tuesday night that hasn't been done this season.
The Raiders (16-5, 9-3) handed Bartlett its first Upstate Eight Conference loss - and first homecourt loss since 2017, scoring 43 second-half points on the way to a 59-58 victory.
Junior guard Lauren Cohen tallied 11 of her team-leading 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Raiders rebounded from Monday's nonconference loss to Marian Catholic.
"We really wanted this one," said Cohen, who added 4 steals and 4 assists while connecting on 11 of her 12 free-throw attempts. "We had a tough loss yesterday, so we really wanted to get back to it."
Bartlett (18-8, 11-1) led 22-16 at the half and opened a 29-21 advantage midway through the third quarter before the Raiders went on an 8-0 run to tie it at 29-29.
That run included 4 points from junior forward Alex Wilharm, who tallied 11 of her 16 points in the third quarter and finished with 9 rebounds.
"That was an impressive game for her," said Raiders coach Morgan Eufrasio. "She doesn't normally score a ton for us. She played a great game."
The Hawks answered with a 3-pointer from Lexie Sinclair and a 3-point play and 3-pointer from Mackenzie Hare to grab a 38-32 lead.
But the Raiders scored the final 7 points of the quarter, capped by Wilharm's 3-point play and basket inside, to take a 39-38 lead into the final period.
"We did a nice job handling their pressure," said Eufrasio. "We got a lot of open looks on that."
While Bartlett tied the game at 41-41 on a 3-pointer from junior Trinity Reyes (11 points, 3 steals) with 6:54 remaining, Glenbard South took the lead for good with Cohen's layup on its next possession.
A layup by Akayhla Dixon (16 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals) and pair of free throws from Cohen extended the Raiders' lead to 47-41 with 5:31 left.
The Hawks trimmed the deficit to 1 on 2 separate occasions late - the first at 49-48 with 3:30 left before Rocky LaPonte hit a 3-pointer on a second-chance look to make it 52-48 - and the second at 56-55 on Hare's 3-pointer off an inbounds pass from Sinclair (18 points, 7 assists, 3 steals) with 45 seconds remaining.
"Bartlett is a good team - they're very athletic," said Eufrasio. "We have opposite styles. They want to run and gun, and we want to go slow and take our time."
Cohen split a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left before LaPonte added 2 more free throws to make it 59-55 with 9 seconds left, rendering Hare's 3-pointer at the buzzer a moot point.
Cohen and LaPonte had the unenviable task of defending the Hawks' top 2 scorers - Sinclair and Hare (20 points).
"They're asked to carry the bulk of our offensive load, too, but they're used to that," said Eufrasio. "They did a nice job tonight."
The loss snapped the Hawks' 28-game home winning streak dating back to a 51-40 loss to St. Charles East on Dec. 12 of 2017.
"We got killed on the boards," said Hawks coach Joe Eirich. "We just ran out of gas. We were a little slow in our rotations.
"We'll bounce back."