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Lovitsch key as Grayslake North handles Wauconda

Once again, Sidney Lovitsch was central to Grayslake North's success.

The Knights have reeled off seven straight wins, and in the most recent one Lovitsch scored 15 of her team-high 19 points in the first half.

She also finished with 9 steals as Grayslake North topped Wauconda 58-41.

"Honestly, my team is a big help for me," Lovitsch said. "We move the ball really quick for what we do with read-and-react. It really gives me a wide-open lane. I'm just taking advantage with my quickness to take people off the dribble. Then my 3s are from people driving and the ball gets kicked out."

The Knights improved to 8-2 overall sport an unbeaten 4-0 in the Northern Lake County Conference. Wauconda slips to 4-4 and 1-3.

Wauconda got off to a great start, jumping to a 4-0 advantage after the opening couple of minutes. Then Lovitsch got a few steals and scored 9 unanswered points as part of a 14-2 run. The Knights held a 14-6 lead after the opening quarter.

"I do take pride in my defense," Lovitsch said. "It helps me in my offense to get a lot of steals and a lot of layups."

Grayslake North enjoyed the pace of play after a sluggish beginning.

"It was a slow start for the first couple of minutes," Grayslake North coach Rob Nicoletti said. "Sidney hit a few shots, then all of a sudden we picked things up on defense. When we're at our best is when we're defending really well. We were able to get at (Wauconda's) guards really well. For the most part, I was really proud of the deflections that we did have. We deflected the ball, that turned into steals and we were able to get transition points."

Wauconda tried to pull together in the second quarter and closed the gap to 21-13 when Hayley Redmann (12 points) hit a short jumper with 5:18 left.

But the Knights responded with 15 straight points. The spurt was by a short jumper from Savannah Gunther (12 points) that beat the horn and put Grayslake in front 36-13 at the break.

The Bulldogs pulled together with a better second half, but couldn't get closer than double digits the rest of the way.

Allie Tylka led Wauconda with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

"We've had other games that we've had slow starts," Wauconda coach Greg Dorgan said. "We didn't get stops defensively, and it comes back to bite us. We did have some breakdowns defensively where we lacked some communication. But we did get better in the second half."

Wauconda played without one of its starters, Kate Rossetti, who nursing an injured ankle.

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