Girls Basketball: Glenbrook North hangs on to top Maine East

Updated: February 16, 2012 10:46AM

Chances are, Glenbrook North loses Thursday night’s game.

Up by as many as 15 midway through the third quarter against Maine East, the Spartans let that big lead slip away and found themselves on the wrong side of the momentum.

But Renee Brosnan’s bunch got it done in the end, beating the host Demons 58-55 in the CSL North opener for both teams.

“It was an ugly win, but I will take it,” said Brosnan, whose team improved to 6-1 overall. “We are going to have some games that happen like that. (Maine East) is a scrappy team, and we might have taken them for granted.”

Monay Crawford’s layup off an offensive rebound got Maine East within three points with 3:07 to play.

But Rachel Blitt and Gracie Sanchez combined to go 6-for-8 on free throws to keep the Demons one possession away down the stretch.

“It was a lot closer than we wanted it to be,” said Sanchez, who scored a team-best 22 points. “We had to keep working hard.”

Glenbrook North went into the half ahead 25-23 and stretched the lead to 40-25, thanks in part to a 10-0 run.

But the Demons didn’t go away. In fact, they seemed to get stronger, answering with three consecutive baskets, two by Crawford. The Demons trailed by eight heading into the final eight minutes.

Maine East made another push midway through the fourth on baskets by Maria Protic and Kristen Georgopoulos. Crawford then cut the deficit to three with her score, but the Demons couldn’t get any closer to lose for the fifth time in a row and drop to 1-5 on the season.

“We were really pushing to win, and we almost were there,” said Crawford, who finished with a season-high 22 points. “We will get better.”

Blitt followed Sanchez with 20 points, while Shaylee Sloan scored 16 for the Demons.

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