Girls basketball: Makenna Yeager, Glenbard West ‘overwhelm’ Downers Grove North, remain unbeaten

GLEN ELLYN – Makenna Yeager and Glenbard West were rightfully excited about the unbeaten start to their season before Tuesday.

They’re positively jumping for joy now.

Leading from start to finish, the Hilltoppers on Tuesday notched their most impressive win to date, beating equally fast-starting Downers Grove North 54-34 in a West Suburban Silver matchup at Biester Gymnasium.

Yeager, a 5-foot-10 junior, led three Glenbard West players scoring in double figures with 19 points. The Hilltoppers (9-0, 3-0) scored the game’s first five points, led 28-21 by halftime, then held Downers Grove North (7-2, 0-1) without a field goal for the first six-plus minutes of the third quarter.

“We came in here, we were just ready to play,” said Yeager, who also had five rebounds and two assists. “We were all mentally there, and it helped us a lot. We have such a tight circle, it’s so unbelievable, we’re so tight and the bench goes crazy when we do well no matter who does well.”

Mya Austin and Lauren Escalante each added 10 points and Julia Benjamin nine for Glenbard West, which posted its eighth win by double digits in the young season.

Points are usually at a premium against Downers Grove North’s defense, but the Hilltoppers did not get the memo.

Glenbard West hit six 3-pointers, four coming in the first half, Yeager hitting two of them. The Hilltoppers were not shy in aggressively hunting shots early in their possessions, and crashed the boards when they missed shots.

“We definitely wanted to go out as hard as we possibly could,” Yeager said. “We knew they were going to be a hard team. It was going to be our hardest team game yet. We all came out as a team and that helped us.”

Yeager led the way, scoring eight of her 19 points in the second quarter. Her score in transition capped an 8-1 run to start the quarter that had the Hilltoppers ahead 18-9. And she scored in a variety of ways, three 3-pointers, shots at the rim and short jumpers in the lane.

“Makenna works really hard and I think she’s really versatile,” Glenbard West coach Kristi Faulkner said. “She can drive, she can pull up, she can hit the three. It was really enjoyable to see her come out, play free and have fun.”

Downers Grove North did not enjoy the experience.

The Trojans were coming off one of the program’s biggest wins, on Saturday against defending Class 3A champion Nazareth.

Downers Grove North had Nazareth playing from behind and on its heels throughout that game, but the shoe was on the other foot Tuesday. Hope Sebek scored 16 points and Lilly Boor 11 for the Trojans, which seemed out of sorts offensively throughout.

“They were great,” Downers Grove North coach Stephan Bolt said of Glenbard West. “They were physical, they were tough, they won all the little battles that you try to make sure you’re winning – first to the ball, first to the floor. They out-toughed and they out-played us.”

The Trojans were still within striking distance trailing 32-24 midway through the third quarter, but Sydney Nimsakont’s steal and baseline drive that turned into a three-point play punctuated a 7-0 Hilltoppers’ run that all but put the game away.

“We started to get a little timid – they took us out of a rhythm and we had a really difficult time offensively,” Bolt said. “They have a bunch of kids that are physical, athletic, they throw a lot of pressure at you. We got overwhelmed, all credit to them.”