Grayslake Central's experience shows

When he peered at the scoreboard after one quarter, Grayslake North coach Jim Sarver couldn't help but notice Grayslake Central's individual point totals.

Four of the Rams' starters had scored.

That balanced offensive attack is how Grayslake Central's girls have won basketball games all season. That, coupled with defense.

The Rams used the same combination to knock off their crosstown rival 39-26 Friday night in front of a good-sized crowd at North.

Grayslake Central improved to 11-8 and 2-2 in the Fox Valley Fox Division, while Grayslake North slipped to 5-15, 1-2.

"They difference in the game was, they have a ton of experience," said Sarver, whose starting five included freshmen Kinsey Siler and Katie McGrath and sophomore Brianna Leon. At one point he had four freshmen on the floor.

"(Grayslake Central) has older, athletic kids that have been playing varsity basketball for a long time. I knew coming into the season that my young kids, at times, were going to struggle with this."

Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in more than a month, Central jumped out to a 13-4 lead after one quarter. The Rams held the home team without a field goal for the first six minutes and got 5 points, including a 3-pointer, from sophomore Maddy Miller.

"If we don't play good defense, we're not going to win," Rams coach Roger Lass said. "I'm sure everybody says that, but we really have to fight and claw and play aggressive. We can't hang back and let people push us around or let them dictate the game. We have to dictate it on defense, and we get a lot of points off that."

North's Lauren Erickson scored a career-best 24 points with four 3-pointers against Prairie Ridge on Tuesday, but Central held her scoreless - the first time that's happened this season. Erickson, who was guarded by Megan LeBaron, did grab 8 rebounds.

"Megan LeBaron did a great job of defending her, stopping her," said Central point guard Alison Metzger, who had a game-high 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. "We did not give her many looks in the lane and we shut her down on the outside. We limited her amount of 3-pointers. Overall, we just did a great job on defense communicating and making sure that she was covered at all times."

"We just didn't want her to make her 3s and then get her rhythm going," LeBaron, who had 6 points and 6 rebounds, said of Erickson. "We just wanted to deny her the ball and my teammates helped me do a good job of that."

Central's defense also helped force the Knights into 28 turnovers. The Rams were up 26-9 at halftime and 37-15 after three. The starters sat most of the fourth, when the Knights outscored them 11-2.

Siler led North with 10 points.

"You want to take a positive out of it?" Sarver said. "I think defensively we were pretty good, and that's what we've always preached in our program."

Kat Dickson added 7 points and 6 rebounds for Central.

Like surely all of her teammates, Metzger appreciated the importance of the game.

"I'm most pumped for this game every year," the senior said. "I know that my team was really excited. We definitely want to play our best against North because we know the whole town comes out."