Hinsdale Central finishes strong to beat Glenbard West

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Hinsdale Central's Madison Grace attempts to block a shot by Proviso West's Nia Roscoe. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:15AM

Hinsdale Central coach Tom McKenna has criticized his team’s inability to finish games. But the Red Devils closed one out Saturday night.

Hinsdale Central broke a late tie and scored 10 of the game’s final 13 points to beat Glenbard West 51-46 for a West Suburban Silver victory in Glen Ellyn.

The Red Devils Lily Sarros equaled her career-high with 23 points. She scored eight points in the third quarter and finished with 11 rebounds. Sarros also scored 23 points in a 72-59 win over Oak Park-River Forest Dec. 16.

Sarros did most of her damage at the free-throw line, as did the rest of Hinsdale Central’s lineup. Sarros (11 rebounds) shot 7 of 11 from the floor, but 9 of 11 at the line. Gabrielle Rush made all eight of her foul shots to finish with 15 points for the Red Devils (8-11, 5-4), which lost their first meeting of the season to the Hilltoppers (7-14, 2-6).

“It feels great (to pull out a win),” Sarros said. “We worked hard to keep our poise. We did a great job tonight. It feels good.”

Glenbard West lost its sixth consecutive game and has suffered defeats in 12 of its last 13 games.

“That’s been our problem. Closing is one of our issues,” West coach Mike Hofland said. “We’ve played better the last couple of games. If we don’t foul, they can’t put up free throws tonight. We’ve got to eliminate our mistakes. Tonight, it was fouls.”

Led by Sarros and Rush, Hinsdale Central shot 21 of 28 at the line, 11 of 12 in the first half. The Hilltoppers went 13 of 19 for the game at the line.

The Red Devils survived a 1 of 10 shooting experience in the second quarter. Rush made the team’s only basket on a layup with 3:13 to go before the half, but Glenbard West could not capitalize by shooting 4 of 14 during the period. Hinsdale Central made five of six free throws in the final 1:49 before halftime.

Sarros had eight rebounds in the first quarter and seemlingly won the head-to-head battle against Glenbard West’s 6-foot-3 junior Caitlin Soane. Soane had 12 points and two rebounds. Guard Claire Riley led the Hilltoppers with 13 points and six rebounds. She made two three-pointers in the second half.

Sarros scored eight points in the second quarter. Glenbard West’s only basket in the final 2:32 to end the game came on Riley’s three-pointer with 31 seconds. The Red Devils led 50-46 at the time.