Senior Niamh Larson continues to deliver strong all-around games this season for the Riverside Brookfield High School girls basketball team. With the Bulldogs hampered by injuries, Larson especially has been shining offensively.
“A little bit because there’s [currently] not other bigs to pass the ball to,” Larson said. “I’ve been fed the ball a lot, which helps. It’s also just more in the season, getting better, practicing more. Things are falling so I think that’s also a key detail.”
Larson again reached double figures Monday with 15 points and helped the Bulldogs nearly rally from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit before losing to visiting Glenbrook North, 52-44.
“We’ve started to adapt better as we go on. This game kind of showed it,” said Larson, who added five steals, five rebounds and blocked two shots. “We’ve had a couple of hard games lately and I think we played really good today.”
The Bulldogs (5-9), who won their previous two games, got the other points against Glenbrook North (8-3) from their other starters, seniors Julia Madera (9 points), Amanda Buckley (8 points, 5 rebounds) and Mayan Covarrubias (7 points, 6 rebounds) and junior Alyssa Morris (5 points, 3 assists).
RBHS only trailed 16-14 early in the second quarter but went scoreless for nearly eight minutes in falling behind 31-14. The deficit reached 39-18 before the Bulldogs began to rally.
“This one was a really good game for us. I just feel like we had a lot of pride in ourselves [coming back],” Buckley said.
Down 41-26 entering the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs made five of six free throws to close to 47-37 with 3:58 left. Madera’s three and a driving basket by Covarrubias cut the deficit to 49-42 with 2:24 left.
But the Bulldogs had just one more possession as the Spartans, who had two starters foul out, worked the clock and made free throws or controlled rebounds on their misses.
“They were moving well in their rotations and their energy defensively [was good]. The offense looked better and they were playing together as a team,” RBHS coach Jordan Mack said.
“We’re getting better as the year goes on so I think we’ll play our best basketball after Christmas. I’m looking forward to that.”
The Bulldogs have been without injured senior standout Emily Organ since Dec. 9 and re-injured sophomore Arianna Hudson. Organ might return during the Sandburg Tournament, Dec. 27-29, where the Bulldogs open against Hinsdale South. Hudson may return late in the season.
In the meantime, returning starter Larson continues to increase her contributions.
“My defense has gotten a lot better,” she said. “I think that’s important to my whole game because if I do good on defense, I have more motivation to be better on offense.”
Buckley is among several returnees with expanded roles this season, especially on defense.
“It’s my thing,” she said. “It’s been a lot [this season], but it’s really great. I feel like I bring a lot to the team.”
The Bulldogs beat Lindblom, 57-34, in the seventh-place game at the Oak Lawn Tournament Saturday, and they defeated visiting Ridgewood, 69-38, Friday to move to 2-0 in the Metro Suburban Conference.
Against Lindblom, Covarrubias (15 points, 3 assists), Larson (12 points, 6 rebounds) and Madera (11 points, 4 rebounds) scored in double figures. Adrijana Nikolic added seven points and Morris had seven rebounds.
Covarrubias (18 points), Larson (17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Buckley (13 points, 6-for-6 shooting, 4 assists, 4 steals) and Morris (7 points) led the scoring against Ridgewood.
“We were just on a good streak. We were rolling. We had good energy the whole time even though Emily was out,” Buckley said.
RBHS lost to Sandburg, 61-34, Dec. 13 in Oak Lawn pool play. Larson (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), Morris (11 points with 2 threes, 8 rebounds), Buckley (5 points, 3 assists), Covarrubias (6 rebounds) and Kelley Tyler (5 rebounds) led the Bulldogs.