Girls Basketball: Glenbrook South hangs on to top Schaumburg

Updated: November 19, 2011 9:21PM

Riley Williams’ three-pointer made a dent in the Glenbrook South lead.

Freshman Jada Blackwell’s fast move to hoop closed the third quarter as the Saxons of Schaumburg began to make their move.

A dozen consecutive missed shots by the home team to open the fourth quarter spelled doom to Schaumburg’s comeback on Saturday morning. Glenbrook South (3-0) pinned a 53-37 defeat on Schaumburg in that club’s Schaumburg

Thanksgiving Tournament.

A personal five-point run by GBS senior Abby Keller gave the Titans a 50-32 lead with three minutes to play in the game.

“We took a timeout to calm down,’’ Keller said. “We just needed to play good defense. We knew our defense would win this game.”

Glenbrook South never trailed after Schaumburg guard Alyssa Saklak drilled in a pair of free throws make it 4-2 Saxons. Saklak matched Keller with a game-high 14 points. Despite having six players who stood 6-feet and above,

the Titans had trouble pulling away from the undersized Saxons.

“Schaumburg has a lot of weapons,’’ said Glenbrook South coach Steve Weissenstein. “They have Saklak and Williams and some good freshmen but today was our best defensive game.”

The senior Saklak’s three-pointer knotted this contest up at 11-11 with two minutes to play in the opening quarter. But the Titans answered that with a six-point run featuring baskets from Keller, Molly McDonagh (10 points) and Amelia Hummel (13 points).

The closest the Saxons would come in the second quarter came when Saklak drilled a three-pointer cutting the Titans lead to 23-19. Again the Titans answered. Colleen McDonagh’s first points of the game came from three-point range and the Titans lead stretched to 26-19.

The Titans took a 30-20 lead to halftime and seemed to have this game in hand.

Glenbrook South did not let up in the second half. Lindsey Oldshue’s three-pointer built a 15-point lead at 39-24. To Schaumburg’s credit they didn’t fold up on their home floor. A 7-1 run closed the third quarter

giving the home team fans some hope.

This tourney continues on Tuesday as GBS takes on Wheaton-Warrenville South at 5 p.m. Schaumburg follows that game with a contest with Rockford Boylan. The tourney concludes the day after Thanksgiving.

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