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Girls Basketball: Glenbrook South puts away Evanston
Updated: January 13, 2012 11:26PM
Led by senior point guard Colleen McDonagh, Glenbrook South earned its 49-41 home win over Evanston Friday night at the free-throw line.
McDonagh scored all 12 of her second-half points from the line, including a 6-for-8 run with under two minutes remaining to close out the game.
“I get to the line a lot,” she said. “Lately my free throw percentage hasn’t been as good as it has been previously, like last year, so I’ve been working on that a lot in practice.
“I think that’s part of my game that I definitely need to be perfect just because a free throw should be an easy point.”
The Titans (15-4, 4-2) shot 40 free throws on the night. McDonagh put up 16 attempts en route to her team-high 17-point performance. Colleen’s younger sister, 6-foot junior forward Molly McDonagh, added a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) for Glenbrook South.
“We wanted to get the ball inside,” Titans coach Steve Weissenstein said. “I thought we did a good job with that. We took the ball to the basket hard. We do have a size advantage on a lot of teams.”
Evanston (10-10, 2-4) was led by center Alecia Cooley’s game-high 22 points, which totaled more than half the Wildcats’ team scoring. The 6-foot-2 junior was a force inside, pouring in 11 in both halves to keep the Wildcats within striking distance all game.
The Titans score sheet displayed the opposite story. Not only did all five Glenbrook South starters contribute baskets in the first quarter, reserve guard Sara Meinecke bounced off the bench for a layup as well.
The second quarter opened with reserve forward Katie Jennings adding another basket before 10 seconds could roll off the clock. The balanced scoring lifted Glenbrook South to a 25-19 lead at the half.
“All our girls that played could lead us in scoring on any given night,” Weissenstein said. “They all have confidence in their game. The big thing about them is they are very athletic and they are able to run the floor. I think we got some easy baskets in transition.”
Evanston opened the second half with five straight points from Cooley, including a three-point play. The spurt helped the Wildcats pull even, at 30-30, with four minutes to play in the quarter.
The Titans, however, responded with a 9-0 run of its own to again take control of the game.
“I was happy that every time they made a run, that we really were able to battle back,” Weissenstein said.
The Titans’ solid free throw shooting in the final minutes sealed Glenbrook South’s season sweep of Evanston.
“I was proud of the girls. We played a lot of kids that weren’t as talented as some of their players,” said Evanston coach Elliot Whitefield. “We are still trying to establish a consistent way of playing.”
“It was anybody’s game down to maybe a minute or so,” Whitefield added. “Free throws have been killing us all year, and if any team in our conference gets into a free-throw contest with Glenbrook South, they are probably going to lose.”
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