Nearing the end of the season, the Glenbrook South girls basketball team has had an overall successful year, according to head coach Steve Weissenstein. With a record of 14-5, the team has had several key wins that were crucial in shaping the team into the players they are today, explains Weissenstein.

With the holiday season coinciding with South’s winter sports season, the girls have been kept busy with various holiday tournaments. According to Weissenstein, many of the season’s highlights were from these tournaments.

“We won the Mundelein Thanksgiving tournament at the beginning of the year, we went 5 and 0 there,” Weissenstein said. “We are three and three in conference right now, so we had two nice wins over Niles West and a win over Bartlet in our Christmas tournament.”

Specifically in the win against Niles West on Jan. 12, the girls’ teamwork prevailed and it was what caused them to win the game, according to senior captain Lizzy Shaw. Shaw explains how the defense came together in order to keep Niles West from scoring any more points, which opened the girls’ eyes to what they are truly capable of.

“We were winning for most of the game and then Niles West came back and put [the score] within three [points],” Shaw said. “It was a really close game but we rallied together and our defense propelled us to win the game.”

According to Shaw, the team has had to overcome a few obstacles to get to where they are today.

“We are a fairly young team so we’ve had some growing pains, but so far, we’ve done a pretty great job,” Shaw said. “We’ve had a couple tough losses but overall we’re really coming together and playing well. We have a really solid offense and we’re working well together.”

With playoffs fastly approaching, the team’s determination has only gotten stronger, according to Weissenstein. Planning to give it their all until the very end, the girls continue to keep their heads up and focus strong, explains Weissenstein.

“Our goal is to get better every practice and every game,” Weissenstein said. “The season is four months long and it’s really important to focus on getting better at every practice and every game. If you do that then the wins take care of themselves.”

Another goal for the girls is to succeed at the Regional Championships, according to Weissenstein. This year, Glenbrook South is hosting the regional for the girls, and the team is very excited to obtain the home advantage, Weissenstein states.

“The nice thing is the regional at the end of the year is at South, so that’s a bonus,” Weissenstein said. “We haven’t had a regional here in a while, and it’s always nice to play at home.”

The girls are also very excited to be hosting the regional, according to senior captain Liz LaPierre. LaPierre explains how it is a great finish to her last year here at South and wants nothing more than to win the championship.

“I’d like to finish out the season [by] hopefully [winning] the regional,” LaPierre said. “The regional is hosted [at South], and it’s never been hosted here [in my high school basketball career], we have always played it at different places. This is the first time I’ll get to play a regional here, which is really fun because its my senior year.”

Weissenstein expresses his faith in his team by commenting on their love for the game and how it will lead to their success. According to Weissenstein, him keeping up the energy and determination is not necessary, for their drive and passion does it for him.  

“The girls want to be there,” Weissenstein said.” “They are interested in basketball [and] they want to get better, I mean that’s why they’re in it. The girls get along very well with each other, they enjoy being there, and because of that they work hard.”

According to Shaw, the girls have built an extremely encouraging and supportive atmosphere around the sport, which is what keeps her and the rest of the team motivated.

“We have a great team morale,” Shaw said. “Our bench and on the court [players] are super supportive and encouraging. It’s such a great feeling going out onto the floor knowing that you have all those girls behind you. Even on the floor, if something is going wrong, we pick each other up, so it’s just a really fun culture to be a part of.”