The Glenbard South girls’ basketball team (5-3, 4-0) went 2-1 last week, beating a pair of Upstate Eight teams putting them atop the standings in the conference.

On Dec. 5 West Chicago (8-2, 3-1) came to town and the Raiders walked away with a convincing 53-51 victory. The team was led by Sofia Alcala and Brooklynn Moore who each reached double digits in scoring with 11 and 10 points respectively. Rheayanna Ferguson scored nine points in the win.

“Overall a good team effort, especially on defense,” said Coach Eric Daca. “Our defense held West Chicago to 6 points in the first half, helped by keeping their leading scorer, Trigueros, scoreless in the half.”

The Raiders then traveled to Fenton (4-4, 2-2) on Dec. 7 and took another lopsided victory, 68-35 over the Bison. Coach daca called the game a “balanced effort.”

Allie Mizwicki and Brooke Buenafe hit double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively, while Mizwicki and Callie Hardtke each had nine points.

Glenbard South traveled to Wheaton-Warrenville South (5-5, 1-3) on Dec. 9 and the Tigers squeaked by with a 47-41 win in non-conference play.

“WWS came out with a fast start and we failed to match their intensity and execution,” said Daca. 

The Tigers were up 23-6 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter Alcala showed her defensive tenacity with a steal, but it was a 23-8 lead for the Tigers. That was until Hardtke drilled a three with a hand in her face to make it a 23-11 game with 5:55 on the clock in the second quarter. The score was 28-15 and the Tigers were looking for more, but Mizwicki came away with a nice steal to take over possession. They failed to score, but on the next possession for the Tigers, Kaitlin Erickson got in on the pick pocket action with a steal with about 30 seconds left in the half. As time was ticking down in the half Erickson came away with another steal. She raced down the court and got a shot off in time, but couldn’t make it and it was 28-15 Tigers at the half.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the strong defensive work by the Raiders continued with a steal by Ferguson. Fast forward to the fourth quarter and it was a 38-29 lead for the Tigers, but Mizwicki sank a three with 6:23 on the clock to cut the lead to six. With the score 41-36 and 3:33 on the clock, Ferguson stepped in front of a pass and took the ball away, raced down the court and hit a layup to make it a three point game. Hardtke went on to nail a three with two minutes left to put the score at 44-41, but the Tigers were able to hold on the rest of the way for a win.

Glenbard South shot 38% and 20% from three, while the Tigers shot 52% and 40% from three. The Tigers also hit 81% of their free throws, and Glenbard South hit only 46%. Glenbard South led 11-6 in assists and 12-7 in steals, but were out-rebounded 21-18.

“After the first quarter, we had much better defensive intensity and cut their lead to three points late in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get any closer,” Daca said.

The team once again had a balanced scoring attack, with Hardtke, Alcala and Moore each scoring eight points. Mizwicki ended the night with seven points. Ferguson had four steals and Erickson had two steals.