Grayslake Central's victory impresses ex-teacher

A teacher at Grayslake Middle School, Tim Borries has had many of Grayslake Central's girls basketball players in his classroom.

"I taught almost all of them," he said.

A varsity girls basketball coach when he's not teaching middle school, Borries got to see his old students celebrate Friday night at Grayslake North.

Only he couldn't celebrate with them.

Led by its senior trio of Megan LeBaron, Alison Metzger and Katelynn Putkonen, plus sophomore Alex Scarbro, Grayslake Central knocked off Borries' Antioch Sequoits 58-38 in a Class 3A regional final.

LeBaron scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Metzger added 14 points and 8 boards, Putkonen netted 12 points, and Scarbro contributed 11. Their combined efforts helped earn Grayslake Central (17-11) a berth in Tuesday night's sectional semifinal against Ridgewood at North Chicago.

"We have a little experience advantage that showed a little bit maybe," said coach Roger Lass, whose Rams were seeded first among the five teams at Grayslake North. "We just played real well.

"Metzger had a big half shooting (12 points), and she's been a great leader. Katelynn hit some shots in the second half, and LeBaron did her rebound, defense, score when you have to."

Putkonen drew inspiration from the home whites Central was wearing in North's gym.

"We've been working for this all year," the senior guard said. "In the locker room I said, 'We are wearing white for a reason, because we are the No. 1 team. We need to go out there and prove it. Failure is not an option.' "

Second-seeded Antioch (14-14) spotted Grayslake Central an 8-0 lead and never recovered. Scarbro and Metzger scored twice each on drives to the basket and the Rams led 13-6 after one quarter.

The Sequoits were within 15-12 with three minutes gone in the second quarter, but Scarbro fed Metzger for the first of her two 3-pointers and by halftime the Rams' lead had swelled to 29-18.

"Someone will be in my face," Putkonen said, "someone will be guarding Megan, and Alison always steps up. Always."

Senior guard Katrina Holm, the Sequoits' lone all-conference pick, scored a team-high 11 points. Her classmate Brittany Deem played well in her final game, too, netting 9 points and hustling for 12 rebounds.

At game's end, Central's players cut down a net to celebrate the team's first regional championship since the Rams' magical 2003-04 season, when Kayla Ming led Grayslake downstate.

"We've been dreaming about this since we were in fifth grade," Putkonen said. "We achieved it tonight."

"They're good students," Borries said. "They're good individuals. They deserved it. They came out and they put together a good game."