Bradley-Bourbonnais opened up the second half of the season at home Saturday afternoon with a 66-32 loss to Southwest Suburban Conference opponent Sandburg.

The Boilermakers (2-12, 0-6 SWSC) scored the game’s first two points, but the Eagles (9-8, 3-3) scored the next 21 to take control and force the Boilermakers to play catch-up for the rest of the game.

Bradley-Bourbonnais responded to a 45-9 halftime deficit by outscoring Sandburg 23-21 in the second half, but it was too little too late for the Boilermakers.

“I think we played really hard,” senior Nia Lawrence said. “We’ve had better practices where we’ve played harder, and it showed [in the second half].”

The two-point advantage for the Boilermakers in the second half may not have done much to alter the result of the game, but head coach Kevin Maciejweski said it showed the team’s willingness to keep competing.

“We’re always proud of the girls, the way they fight,” he said. “I think that was evident when we came out in the second half, and those first few possessions we got multiple offensive rebounds.

“The scoreboard doesn’t really indicate how hard we’re working each game and each practice.”

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Bradley-Bourbonnais's Abby Bonilla looks for an open shot as Sandburg's Olivia Trunk, left, guards in a game on Saturday, January 3, 2026. (Nicholas Holstein for Shaw Local)

Lawrence and junior Abby Bonilla tied for the team lead with nine points Saturday, with all of Lawrence’s points coming in the second half. They each knocked down a 3-pointer, as well, the only two for the team.

Shooting from deep was where Sandburg held one of its biggest advantages. The Eagles made nine 3s in the game, eight of which came in the first half and three in an early 9-0 run that turned a 4-2 lead into a 13-2 lead.

“After the first quarter, I felt our defense was playing pretty good,” Maciejewski said. “We were moving, we were talking, we were switching when we needed to switch. They just hit a couple 3s early on, and that kind of hurt us.

“On the flip side, we got some good looks, too, that didn’t fall. That was the difference in the first quarter.”

The win for Sandburg was its seventh in the past 10 games following a 2-5 start to the season.

Head coach Nicholos Fotopoulos said the team had been working on its 3-point shooting, and that work paid off.

“We made it a focus in the last couple days of practice of really just getting back to basics on our form and the way we’re shooting,” he said. “I thought it showed pretty nice in the way we came out and shot the ball today.”

Six players connected from deep for the Eagles. Gyneen Ali, Ellie Driscoll and Aleena Samad made two each. Ali led the team with 13 points, while Driscoll had 10.

For Bradley-Bourbonnais, Sami Shoven added six points behind Lawrence and Bonilla. Nay Coday and Anna Merichko had four points apiece to round out the scoring for the Boilermakers.

Shoven, Lawrence, Coday, Nevaeh Davis and Jayden Vaughn are the five seniors on the Boilermaker roster. Now that the team is into the 2026 portion of the schedule and has just nine regular-season games ahead of them, Shoven said she and her teammates are hoping to keep working hard the rest of the way.

“I’m just excited to get after it. It’s our senior year, so we want to have a good mindset and play good overall.”

The Boilermakers will be back in action with a pair of SWSC road contests at Lincoln-Way West on Jan. 9 and Lincoln-Way Central on Jan. 13, before getting back home to host second-place Lockport for a conference matchup Jan. 15.