Glenbrook South closes in on Neibch repeat

Her height is listed at 5-foot-4 in the official program, but Sidney Rogers stands tall for Glenbrook South's girls basketball team.

Rogers, a senior guard, scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half, enabling the Titans (14-2) to turn back Downers Grove North, 54-46, in Wednesday night's semifinals of the Bill Neibch Falcon Holiday Classic at Wheaton North.

With the win, Glenbrook South aims to repeat as tournament champions when it faces Schaumburg (10-7) in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. title contest.

Clinging to a 47-42 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Titans turned to their point guard - and Rogers delivered in her customary style.

Rogers connected on a 3-pointer - her fourth of the game - from the corner with 2:58 remaining to give the Titans some breathing room at 50-42.

"When we say, 'Let's look for layups,' that's a layup for her - it really is," Titans coach Scott Nemecek said of Rogers' 3-pointer.

After the Trojans (12-4) scored 4 straight points to make it 50-46, Rogers calmly sank a pair of free throws to ice it with 1:04 remaining.

"Obviously, they're nerve-wracking (games), but it's fun," said Rogers. "It's what I like about the game."

Leading 30-25 at halftime, the Titans held the Trojans to 21 second-half points on 7-of-23 shooting from the field.

"I think our defense really picked up," said Rogers. "In the first and second quarters, we weren't really boxing out and they (Trojans) were getting a lot of open shots they shouldn't have gotten. In the second half, we closed in on that and stopped them from getting those."

Maggie Fleming led the Trojans with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Hope Sebek added 13 points.

Chloe Gonzalez had 14 points and 7 rebounds for the Titans, while Gina Davorija finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds, and 6-foot-2 junior center Anna Rosenberger added 7 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

"Every time where it seemed like we could make it comfortable, they hit a basket or two," said Nemecek. "It was hard to pull away."

Now, the Titans await a rare matchup with Schaumburg.

"We've seen them in this tournament in the past," said Nemecek. "It'll be a fun matchup because we really haven't played each other in many years."

Downers Grove North will face Waubonsie Valley (12-2) in the third-place game on Thursday (6 p.m.).