Niles West's OT win over GBS ties up CSL South

Wolves don't mind three-way share of first place

In their four years, the seniors on the Niles West girls basketball team had not experienced a season in which they had come close to first place in the Central Suburban League South.
 
And with that chance possibly slipping away at halftime Friday night, they did not want to lose it.

Niles West rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Glenbrook South 49-46 in overtime in a CSL South showdown in Skokie.

The win moved Niles West (20-5, 6-2 in CSL South) into a three-way tie for first in the CSL South with Glenbrook South (15-6, 6-2) and New Trier (21-3, 6-2).

“The seniors on this team have never had a season like this one,” Niles West senior Jackie Gremley said. “We said at halftime we were not going to miss the chance to be in first place even if it’s a share. We wanted to go out with a bang, and that’s what we did in this game.”

After trailing 21-12 at halftime, the Wolves came out of the gates and scored the first 12 points of the second half to take a 24-21 lead. Jewell Loyd had seven points during the run and nine of her 21 points in the third quarter.

“We needed some energy and we were able to get a lot of points off of fastbreaks,” said Loyd, who was coming off a 40-point effort in a loss to New Trier Jan. 22. “This might not have been my best game, but I scored when I needed to. This was a big game for us and we wanted this one badly.”

In the third quarter, Gremley (13 points) went down with a back injury. Despite being down on the floor in considerable pain for several minutes, she only missed three minutes of action.

“I was just motivated to get back in the game,” Gremley said. “Again, this team has come so far and I did not want to lose this game. So I wanted to do whatever I could to contribute.”

Even without Gremley, the Wolves held Glenbrook South to only two points in the third quarter. However, the Titans, who struggled with foul trouble throughout the game with Kelly Minx fouling out in the fourth quarter, started the final period on an 8-0 run to turn their 30-23 deficit into a 31-30 lead. That was in big part due to guard Jannelle Flaws coming back in the game after going to the bench with her fourth foul early in the third period. But she returned and scored the Titans’ first six fourth-quarter points.

“Janelle being back on the floor was huge for us,” Glenbrook South coach Steve Weissenstein said. “She’s a great defender and she gives us a lot of play-making ability. It definitely hurt us not having her out there in the third.”

Glenbrook South outscored Niles West 11-4 in the fourth quarter, with Gremley’s two free throws giving the Wolves a 34-31 lead with 1:30 left in regulation.

However, Glenbrook South sophomore Colleen McDonough got a big three-point play to tie the game  at 34-34 with 39 seconds to go. She scored 14 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth period and OT.

“Colleen made some huge plays for us down the stretch,” Weissenstein said. “It’s especially impressive considering it’s her first game coming back from injury in two weeks. So she really gave us a great performance in this game.”

But once overtime started Niles West again started quickly, scoring the first six points on two Loyd buckets and an Allie Guiang layup for a 40-34 lead.

“We knew that would be key for us to start off the overtime fast,” Loyd said. “It still didn’t end up being easy ,but we wanted to score quickly and get out in front.”

The Wolves appeared to have a commanding 47-40 lead with just 20 seconds left. But McDonough, who had already converted on another three-point play earlier, drilled a three with 13.4 seconds to get the Titans within 47-43. After Niles West’s inbounds violation, McDonough hit another three with 7.1 seconds to go to bring the Titans within one point.
 
After the Wolves’ Kelly Kleppin hit a pair from the line with 5.2 seconds making the lead 49-46, McDonough’s open three-point attempt was just long.

 “She got a good look, but you can’t hit all of them,” Weissenstein said. “Hopefully the way she shot the ball in overtime will give her confidence and the way the team played can give them some confidence about how we play good teams.”

The win avenged Niles West’s 59-54 loss to Glenbrook South Dec. 11.

“This win has given us a great feeling,” Gremley said. “Our games against New Trier and GBS this year have been tough and fun at the same time. So even if we are sharing it, we can still be the conference champs. That was something that never even crossed our minds the first three years.”

Other scorers for Niles West  included Kelly Kleppin (9 points) and Guiang (4).

Geena Campobasso (10 points), Flaws (9), Minx (4) and Ali Shaw (4) also led Glenbrook South.

Photo:

Niles West's Jaclyn Gremley (right) gets physical with New Trier's Liz Pedi in a game last week. (Photo by Mark Shurson/www.markshursonphotography.com)

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