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winnetkacurrent.com sports<br />

the winnetka current | January 25, 2018 | 29<br />

Girls basketball<br />

Regina rallies late but falls at GBN<br />

Gary Larsen<br />

Freelance Reporter<br />

Glenbrook North<br />

showed Regina Dominican<br />

that often times in basketball<br />

a loss comes down<br />

to just three words.<br />

Too much size.<br />

The host Spartans’ 44-<br />

30 win over the visiting<br />

Panthers was punctuated<br />

throughout by their superior<br />

height at nearly every<br />

position, in a nonconference<br />

girls’ basketball game<br />

on Saturday, Jan. 20.<br />

“We don’t have the size<br />

to match them,” Regina<br />

coach Bob Newton said.<br />

“When we’re at our best,<br />

we’re playing defense and<br />

forcing teams to do things<br />

they don’t like to do. We<br />

did that for a little bit today<br />

but then we couldn’t stop<br />

the ball from going in the<br />

post.”<br />

Glenbrook North senior<br />

post player Morgan<br />

Paull led all scorers with<br />

13 points, and five other<br />

Spartans had at least two<br />

baskets apiece in the win.<br />

Glenbrook North coach<br />

Danielle Fluegge knew<br />

her girls held a physical<br />

edge over Regina so her<br />

pre-game message was<br />

clear.<br />

“We’ve been preaching<br />

to the girls that when<br />

you play a team that<br />

you’re supposed to beat,<br />

you have to beat them.”<br />

Fluegge said. “We have<br />

eight seniors and they’ve<br />

been hearing those kinds<br />

of things a lot over four<br />

years, and it’s nice to see<br />

them put it into action.”<br />

The Spartans (9-9) led<br />

23-5 at halftime and 36-11<br />

after three quarters before<br />

Fluegge sent in her second-team<br />

players for the<br />

fourth quarter.<br />

Regina (9-13) had the<br />

game’s first basket, a<br />

3-pointer from freshman<br />

guard Laura Strenk. But<br />

the Spartans answered<br />

with an 11-0 scoring run to<br />

the end of the first quarter,<br />

then posted a 12-2 scoring<br />

edge in the second.<br />

A 13-6 scoring edge in<br />

the third quarter gave the<br />

Spartans a 25-point lead,<br />

and Glenbrook North junior<br />

Faith Kim liked what<br />

she saw from her side as it<br />

built its lead.<br />

“We know we can play<br />

well when we stick together,”<br />

Kim said. “Something<br />

that has helped us a<br />

lot in the last few games is<br />

instead of being down on<br />

ourselves for losing games<br />

we shouldn’t have lost,<br />

we’ve really been picking<br />

each other up.”<br />

Strenk led the Panthers<br />

with 10 points, sophomore<br />

Nora Clancy scored nine,<br />

and junior Caitlin Ward<br />

had 10 rebounds in the<br />

loss.<br />

The Panthers played<br />

with more cohesion in the<br />

fourth quarter, matched<br />

up against the Spartans’<br />

second team, and Regina<br />

posted a 19-8 scoring edge<br />

in the quarter.<br />

“We all have strengths<br />

and we needed to combine<br />

them today,” Strenk<br />

said. “In the fourth quarter<br />

we finally started to combine<br />

well together. And<br />

like coach says, until (the<br />

post-season) everything is<br />

practice. So we’re all practicing<br />

really hard.”<br />

Newton agreed.<br />

“We’ve made great<br />

progress and we’re playing<br />

better together than we did<br />

last year,” Newton said.<br />

“So we’ve seen a lot of<br />

progress and we’re much<br />

Regina point guard Laura Strenk (right) is guarded by Glenbrook North’s Christina Christos on Saturday, Jan. 20,<br />

in Northbrook. Gary Larsen/22nd Century Media<br />

improved defensively. But<br />

we don’t have enough kids<br />

who are confident enough<br />

to think of themselves as<br />

scorers and we’re trying to<br />

develop that through practice.”<br />

Newton also applauded<br />

the varsity season Strenk<br />

is having as a freshman.<br />

“She’s really our first<br />

basketball player because<br />

all of our other kids are<br />

multi-sport athletes who<br />

are playing basketball just<br />

because they’re athletic<br />

enough,” Newton said.<br />

“She has played really<br />

well.”<br />

Strenk is just happy to<br />

be a varsity contributor.<br />

“It’s like the coolest<br />

thing ever. It’s such a great<br />

experience,” Strenk said.<br />

“All my teammates are so<br />

nice and they help me out<br />

so much, and (Newton)<br />

does a great job of matching<br />

us up with girls on the<br />

other teams we play.”<br />

Fluegge applauded team<br />

leader Paull for another<br />

consistent effort and liked<br />

the effort she got up and<br />

down her lineup. Kim<br />

scored five points in the<br />

win and the Spartans got<br />

four points apiece from<br />

Jamie Kempner, Amanda<br />

Stephenson, Sammi<br />

Stoneburner, and Christina<br />

Christos.<br />

Fluegge was also happy<br />

to get her bench players<br />

extended playing time on<br />

Saturday.<br />

“We have such a great<br />

group of girls and it’s always<br />

good to get every girl<br />

playing,” Fluegge said.<br />

“And Faith Kim is truly<br />

our most improved player<br />

from last year to this year.<br />

She has played consistently<br />

well, kept us in games,<br />

and helped dig us out of<br />

holes. Offensively, she’s a<br />

force to be reckoned with<br />

and defensively she has<br />

worked hard on moving<br />

her feet.”<br />

Kim flashed her ability<br />

to drive to the basket<br />

throughout Saturday’s<br />

game. In her second varsity<br />

season, however, she’s<br />

focused on improving other<br />

aspects of her game.<br />

“The last couple years,<br />

my game has been mainly<br />

been more about offense.<br />

I like taking it to the hoop<br />

but I still need to work on<br />

my outside shot,” Kim<br />

said. “And Fluegge has<br />

talked to me about not<br />

being a one-dimensional<br />

player so I’ve had to<br />

work on my defense, too.<br />

I can’t make my teammates<br />

do extra work because<br />

of me, so I had to<br />

start pulling my own<br />

weight.”

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