Girls Basketball: Glenbrook South overcomes Niles North

If this was a heavyweight fight, they would have called it early and awarded Niles North a technical knockout.

Midway through the second quarter in Tuesday’s game at Glenbrook South it was 19-5 in favor of the Vikings. Even when the Titans came firing back the Niles North lead was still a healthy 37-28 late in the third quarter.

Glenbrook South’s Colleen McDonagh had six of her eight points in the fourth quarter. The Titans won the fourth quarter 13-3 and that was good enough to stop the Vikings 46-42.

“Give them credit,’’ said Glenbrook South coach Steve Weissenstein. “They are very

athletic. There is a reason both Mariyah Henley and Alissa Hirsh have both scored 1,000 points in their careers.”

It clearly was the Hirsh and Henley show in the game’s first 12 minutes. Those two seniors had 17 of Niles North’s first 19 points. And Glenbrook South was having trouble scoring early.

“We missed a lot of layups,’’ Weissenstein said.

And then when the game was seemingly out of hand, Glenbrook South’s Molly McDonagh began to cut into the Niles North lead. This junior scored half of her 20 points in the first half.

“Molly wants the basketball,’’ he said. “She’s all over the glass.”

Niles North’s lead was down to 23-19 at halftime.

On a three-point play from Molly McDonagh this game was knotted up at 25-25 and momentum seemingly was on the Titans’ side of the court.

Henley (22 points) had other ideas. The senior had a personal 11-point run in the third quarter. That included a three-pointer and three consecutive free throws that barely touched the net.

“Henley was spinning and putting up shots with her left hand,’’ he said. “We couldn’t stop it.”

On two free throws from Hirsh (13 points), Niles North took a 39-33 lead to the fourth quarter.

“We played not to lose,’’ Hirsh said. “Our offense was stagnant at the end. I thought we played well. We just have to learn how to close out games.”

Also helping the Titans (9-1) on this night were Amelia Hummel (nine points) and Lindsey Oldshue (six points).

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