How simple is girls high school basketball?
“It’s so much fun when we win,” Glenbrook South junior Brett Leonard said Saturday.
That’s all the explanation needed after the 12th-ranked Titans, who have struggled lately, beat Eastlake (Ohio) North 73-66 in overtime at the Chicagoland Prep Girls Classic at Willowbrook.
And speaking of fun, Leonard scored a career-high 34 points–including hitting all six free-throw attempts in overtime.
“I looked up at the clock with 2 minutes left in regulation,” said Leonard, seeing her team down 62-56. ” `No way we’re going to lose this game,’ I thought.”
So all the 5-foot-5-inch junior did was hit two three-pointers to send the game into overtime. And in the extra session, senior Jovanka Pavlovic scored two baskets–one a three–to put the Titans in control.
Pavlovic wound up with 16 for the Titans (19-3). Kaayla Chones, North’s 6-4 junior and daughter of former Marquette star Jim Chones, had 21 rebounds and scored 17 points for the Rangers (9-4). All four of her team’s losses have come in out-of-state matchups.
Kelly Naypauer led Eastlake North with 21 points.
In other games:
Lake Zurich 63, Dundee-Crown 45: The third-ranked Bears took control of the Fox Valley race with this victory over their closest pursuers. Alicia Ratay scored 20 points for Lake Zurich (19-2, 11-0). Meghan Kolze added 14 and Katie Berwanger 12 and nine rebounds. Billee Russell paced the No. 16 Chargers (15-4, 9-2) with 15 points.
Sandburg 51, Hobart (Ind.) 40: No. 4 Sandburg improved to 17-1 with the victory. More importantly, Lola Dada–injured in the first quarter and carried off on a stretcher–was released from Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Sandburg coach Gary Bonk said Dada got poked in the eye and felt dizzy when she tried to get up. Tracy Hoffmann scored 14 points, Sarah Kustok 10 and Kelly Ellison nine for the Eagles. Julie Mandon led Hobart (9-5) with 17.
Sandburg had a 21-point lead midway through the second quarter, but Hobart chipped away and managed to close to 48-38.
“After Lola got injured, I just told the team the game’s sort of insignificant,” Bonk said.
Stevenson 54, Sterling Newman 48: Stevenson (9-9) handed Sterling Newman Central Catholic its first loss of the season. Sophomore Stephy Sulentic scored 15 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Patriots. Katie Fitzgerald and Jenni Dant each added 12. Newman (17-1), third in last season’s Class A tournament, got 13 from Suzanne Hermes and 10 from Jennifer Olson.
“Sulentic did a super job off the bench,” Stevenson coach Frank Mattucci said. “She’s a real fireplug for the club.”
Olney 47, Montini 34: Montini (8-10) closed to within 33-28 at the end of the third quarter but just couldn’t stay with the unbeaten Tigers (20-0).
“After a tough loss Friday night, it was good to see this kind of effort,” Montini coach Don Riley said. Sophomore Alison Kelley led the losers with 17. Jessica Bateman’s 15 paced Olney, which has 741 students–one over the Class A limit.
