Glenbard South guard Rheayanna Ferguson said her favorite subject in school is math.

Sure enough, the senior made sure all the numbers added up nicely for the Raiders on Thursday night at West Chicago in an Upstate Eight Conference matchup.

Ferguson scored 13 points, classmate Jamie Mizwicki tallied a game-high 14 and Glenbard South sprinted to a terrific start by scoring 31 points in the first quarter as the Raiders won 69-28 to post consecutive victory No. 9.

All in all, the Raiders were definitely the sum of all of their parts against the Wildcats. In a balanced scoring effort, sophomore Julia Alcala pitched in with 11 points and Callie Hardtke added nine.

“(This win) shows that we’re a team that works together,” said Ferguson, who has been on varsity all four years. “And we have a coach (Eric Daca) who believes in us.”

Ferguson, who played an outstanding all-around game, added that she’s stepping into more of a leadership role this season.

“I’m a point guard, so my biggest thing is helping my team get going,” she said. “And when they get going, it helps me get going.

“I’m trying to be more vocal this year, and that’s something I work on. In the past I was more quiet, leading by example. But as you get older, you have to use your voice more, especially for the incoming freshmen.”

One of those incoming freshmen is guard Jordan Bailey. Bailey led a strong effort off the bench for the Raiders, scoring seven points. Overall, the Glenbard South bench outscored the West Chicago bench 22-8.

Bailey, who thought she was going to be on JV this year but was called up to varsity prior to the start of the season, thinks the success of the Raiders this year (10-2, 5-0 in conference) has been due to teamwork.

“We encourage each other,” she said. “And we bring each other up no matter what happens.

“My goal this year (as a frosh) is to help my team get better any way I can. I think I can do that by being one of the hardest workers on the floor.”

West Chicago sophomore McKenzie Hanrahan continued her stellar start to this year’s campaign with a team-high 12 points. Teammate Sneha George, a senior captain, scored six points and added six rebounds.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats now sit with a solid record of 9-4 overall, 4-2 in the league.

“What we take out of this game tonight,” said Hanrahan, “is that we’ll look to see how we can improve, look to see what things we can do better.

“(Our success) this season, I would say, is not giving up, no matter how hard the games get. We keep pushing through and playing as a team.”

Glenbard South pressed the issue Thursday on the defensive end and on the boards as well. They had 15 steals on the night with seven coming in the first quarter, and outrebounded the home team 31-15.

Daca was impressed with the overall play of his squad in all aspects of the contest.

“We’ve got a lot of girls who can play this year,” he said, “and we have a lot of girls who are stepping up. Whether it’s our first five, or the kids coming off the bench, the girls know how to work together.

“We were moving offensively the way we wanted to, and defensively the way we wanted to. It’s definitely nice to have those options.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251218/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-glenbard-souths-hot-start-too-much-for-west-chicago-in-ninth-straight-win/