Girls Basketball: Illinois State recruit Lauren Cohen takes over, carries Glenbard South past South Elgin

SOUTH ELGIN – Following an 0-4 start, Glenbard South’s girls basketball team has found its winning ways.

After earning their first victory of the season Tuesday night against West Chicago, the Raiders (2-4, 2-1) capitalized on a second-half surge during their 52-35 Upstate Eight Conference victory over host South Elgin (2-4, 1-1) Friday night.

Senior point guard Lauren Cohen tallied 13 of her game-high 27 points during the Raiders’ 17-0 run that turned a 29-29 tie midway through the third quarter into a commanding 46-29 lead with 3:56 remaining.

“I felt like I was on,” said Cohen, who connected on 12 of 17 field-goal attempts while adding five rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals. “If you don’t get stopped, you might as well keep going, I guess.”

Cohen knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to start the Raiders’ run before assisting on Iman Sellars’ basket inside to make it 37-29 after 3 quarters.

Cohen, an Illinois State recruit, began the fourth quarter with a steal and layup, and she drained another 3-pointer and added a driving layup to cap the Raiders’ 17-point unanswered tear.

“Lauren played out of her mind,” said Raiders coach Morgan Eufrasio. “She’s a great floor general. She has been with us for four years through a lot of good basketball and now it’s her turn to take over.”

Despite Cohen being whistled for her third foul in the opening minute of the third quarter, Eufrasio never flinched, leaving her floor leader in the game.

“You’ve got to trust your seniors and I’ve got to have her out there, so she doesn’t have a choice,” said Eufrasio. “She played a fantastic game.”

Alex Wilharm finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Sofia Alcala added six points and seven rebounds for the Raiders, whose half-court defense limited the Storm to 27% shooting (14 of 52) from the field.

“Our defense takes a while to get going,” said Eufrasio. “I think this was the first time our defense clicked (this season). They’re a nice team that scores 60 points a game. I was impressed with our defense.”

Ella Winterhalder led the Storm with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while Caroline Croft added 7 points, and Zoie Lewis had 4 points, 5 rebounds and 7 steals.

“We scored 40 points in the first half last night against a good Bartlett team, and we didn’t get 40 tonight,” said South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack. “That’s a credit to Glenbard South’s defense.

“We’re super young — we’ve got three sophomores and two juniors (starting), so we’re going to take this as a learning experience.”

South Elgin visits East Aurora Saturday afternoon.

“We’ll bounce back,” said Mandernack.