Girls Basketball: Oswego advances into championship game, beats Glenbard East

Updated: December 14, 2011 10:40PM

With the rash of injuries that has hit Oswego’s girls basketball team this season, contributions are expected from players up and down the roster.

In Wednesday’s 48-34 Oswego Holiday Classic win over Glenbard East, it was Erin Sinnott’s turn to pitch in.

She scored all of her team-high 11 points in the second half as the Panthers turned a two-point lead after three quarters into a 14-point win.

“Her offensive game in the second half really helped us out,” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. “She knocked down a couple of threes and had a couple of nice drives to the basket.”

In the first half, Glenbard East (1-10), a team that won its first game of the season Monday against Larkin, gave Oswego (6-5) all it could handle. The Rams held a 19-14 lead with five minutes left in the second before Oswego rallied to tie it at 21-21 at the half.

“Don’t expect them to lay down for you,” Pohlmann said. “With a young team, that’s something that they have to go through. We struggled early tonight. The whole first half, we didn’t play our game. We let them into the game.”

A modest 10-4 run in the third pushed the lead to 33-27, but it was only 33-31 going into the fourth. But Glenbard East only mustered three points in the fourth quarter as Oswego pulled away.

“Our kids played great for three quarters,” Glenbard East coach Jen Ennis said. “We need to execute for four quarters, obviously. The effort we put forth in the first three quarters is an effort we can stand by. I thought we got a little anxious in the fourth quarter, but that’s a great learning experience for us in the big picture.”

The win pushed the Panthers into Saturday night’s tournament title game at 6 p.m., likely against Neuqua Valley. Neuqua plays Minooka Thursday, and if the Wildcats win, they will be Oswego’s opponent. The Panthers last won their own tournament in 2009.

“It’s nice for them to get a nice little three-game winning streak here, get our record over .500 and we get a chance to take on a pretty good team Saturday night in Neuqua, if they win,” Pohlmann said. “That will be a good barometer for us to see how we’ve improved. It should be a lot of fun for us.”

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