Mask doesn’t stop Alexis Glasgow, Rolling Meadows from semifinal win

NORMAL – Rolling Meadows’ Alexis Glasgow admits that she had trouble getting acclimated to the mask she wore Friday after breaking her nose in Monday’s supersectional victory over New Trier.

“It’s a distraction,” she said. “It’s definitely something you have to get used to.”

Glasgow didn’t have her best shooting night Friday, but when it mattered, the 5-foot-11 senior came up big.

With her team nursing a 37-36 lead with 5:40 remaining, Glasgow buried a three-pointer that gave Rolling Meadows a four-point lead it would never relinquish as the Mustangs went on to defeat Geneva 51-43 in a Class 4A state semifinal at Redbird Arena.

Rolling Meadows (29-4) will play in the Class 4A championship game for the second consecutive year Saturday at 8:15 p.m.

Glasgow, who led Rolling Meadows with 18 points including 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, was all over the floor for the Mustangs, fighting for loose balls and leading her team with six rebounds.

Was it the mask that made her so reckless?

“Maybe that was the reason,” she said. “I felt pretty safe.”

Glasgow was just 3-of-16 from three-point range before burying the biggest shot of the game.

“Coach (Ryan Kirkorsky) yells at me for taking bad shots,” Glasgow said. “I thought I was open. My teammates kept feeding me the ball and trusting me. I really appreciate that. I was just happy I could knock one down. I think that changed things.”

Geneva (26-6) overcame a 25-19 halftime deficit thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Morgan Seberger to open the third quarter. Geneva extended to 31-28 lead on a jumper by Jamie McCloughan with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter.

“They have a lot of weapons,” Rolling Meadows senior Jackie Kemph said. “I think we came out and weren’t ready to go right away. They got back into the game. They hit some hard shots, had some good drives. But we came back and were aggressive, too. I think that’s what helped us get the lead back.”

Kemph added 13 points for Rolling Meadows, including four free throws in the 49 seconds. Jenny Vliet added 11 points and four rebounds.

“We knew they were a tough team,” Kirkorsky said. “We knew that they won 13 games in a row. I watched a lot of film on them. I watched them beat a real good Wheaton Warrenville South team, so I knew it would be a challenge.

“I guess more than anything, (Geneva) is a tough bunch of kids,” he added. “I asked our kids to step up on toughness. We went into the fourth quarter down, and I told the kids we have eight minutes to play tougher than them.”

Freshman Grace Loberg (nine rebounds) and Seberger each had 12 points for Geneva.

“I thought we were getting the looks we wanted,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “I thought we lost composure on a couple of runs, but overall I said to the girls, ‘Everybody wants more.’ Tomorrow will be tough to play, but we got to turn around and focus and be ready to play.”