Grayslake Central downs Dundee-Crown 63-47
After a slow start, Grayslake Central picked up the intensity in the second quarter against visiting Dundee-Crown on Saturday night.
The Rams wound up overwhelming the Chargers 63-47 in a Fox Valley Conference crossover.
Megan LeBaron scored 8 of her team-leading 14 points in the second quarter for Grayslake Central.
"We tried to come out hard and didn't box out or rebound as good as we wamted to," LeBaron said. "In the second quarter, I just happened to get the ball and I guess I was lucky to make my baskets."
Grayslake Central (9-6) led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. After Dundee-Crown's Melissa Summaria opened the second quarter by converting two foul shots to bring the Chargers within 6 points, the Rams rallied with a 12-3 run to build a 28-13 lead.
They were up 30-19 at halftime, then opened the third quarter with 10 straight points.
"Our guards did a lot of penetrating and that drew their defense away from their girls, and we made a lot of nice passes," Rams coach Roger Lass said. "Allison Metzger, Katelynn (Putkonen) and Alex Scarbro made nice passes."
D-C's Alex Lococo led all scorers with 16 points.
"We just can't string four quarters together," Lococo said. "We are having a hard time playing our best all four quarters on defense.
"Our coach, (Michelle Russell) tried to make some adjustments on defense, trying to get us to box out more."
Russell was happy with the way her team came out in the first half.
"We played a pretty good first half and the girls came out ready to play," said Russell, whose Chargers fell to 2-13. "The second half, we came out a little flat and the defense wasn't quite there in the third quarter. We tried to turn it around in the fourth quarter, but it was a little too late.
Putkonen added 12 points and 7 rebounds for Grayslake Central.
"I wasn't shooting as much as I usually do," Putkonen said. "I was just trying to focus on defense a lot."
Kathryn Dickson finished with 8 points and dished out 7 assists for the Rams.
"I didn't have a great game our last game," Dickson said. "So I wanted to improve on that and I shot some, and I guess it showed on the court tonight."