North Chicago holds off Crystal Lake South

You kind of had the feeling this was going to be a close battle.

After all, the North Chicago girls basketball team was back to defend its title in the 26th Annual Northern Illinois Holiday Classic against Crystal Lake South, the same team it defeated for the crown a year ago.

"We knew they were going to be looking to redeem themselves," North Chicago coach Laurence Brown said after his team claimed the title once again with a 39-36 victory on Tuesday afternoon at McHenry.

"They're a very good team. But we kept our composure when they took the lead. We played good defense when we needed to and we did a good job of managing the clock."

In a tightly contested first half, there were three ties and six lead changes. The Gators actually looked like they were going to take control of the game when junior forward Chanel Fanter scored 5 consecutive points to put her team ahead 17-14 with 35 seconds left before the break. But the Warhawks answered when Alexis Means' short jumper with 16 seconds left closed the gap to 17-16.

North Chicago (12-3) carried over a little of that momentum when it opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run and a 26-19 advantage. However, Crystal Lake South (11-4) bounced right back with an 11-4 spree of its own to take a 32-30 lead after senior forward Jennifer Siesennop's layup. But junior guard Ladellia Maggett's rebound and follow up then gave North Chicago the lead for good at 33-32 with 4 minutes left in regulation.

Ahead 38-36, Means missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 11 ticks left and Crystal Lake South called timeout after sophomore Annika Sevcik snagged the rebound. Only thing, the Gators were out of timeouts and assessed a technical foul. Senior center Tiara Garrett then made 1-of-2 foul shots and North Chicago also got the ball and ran out the last 1.8 seconds.

"You don't like losing but his was a pretty good outcome for us (finishing second). We learned a lot about ourselves being forced into pressure situations," said Fanter, who led all scorers with 19 points. "They have a great defense but we were able to get the ball down the floor. We could have rebounded better though, especially on the offensive."

Garrett popped in a team-high 15 points while snaring 10 boards, and Maggett complemented her with 10. Flashy junior guard Zyaire Strowder-Butler chipped in with 9 points before fouling out with just over 5 minutes left in the contest.

Senior forward Hailee Massie popped in 6 points while Sevcik added 5 for Crystal Lake South.

"We knew they were athletic," Gators first-year coach Mark Mucha said. "We tried to get them to shoot outside and limit their dribble penetration. We needed to play a little tougher on defense."