Preview: St. Francis Spartans vs. Glenbard South Raiders
St. Francis and Glenbard South are an even 3-3 against one another since January of 2015, but not for long. The St. Francis Spartans will look to defend their home court on Saturday against the Glenbard South Raiders at 4:00 p.m. St. Francis will be strutting in after a win while Glenbard South will be coming in after a loss.
St. Francis entered their tilt with De La Salle with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. St. Francis came out on top against De La Salle by a score of 51-41 on Thursday. Given St. Francis' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 72nd, while De La Salle is ranked 328th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. Francis relied on the efforts of Dolly Smith, who scored 12 points along with five steals, and Riley Austin, who scored 21 points along with two steals. Natalie Doyle was another key contributor, scoring two points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, Glenbard South's good fortune finally ran out last Friday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 39-38 to Glenbard East.
St. Francis is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 15-9 record this season. As for Glenbard South, their loss ended a 12-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 13-7.
St. Francis was able to grind out a solid victory over Glenbard South when the teams last played back in January of 2023, winning 37-30. Does St. Francis have another victory up their sleeve, or will Glenbard South turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
