Grayslake Central takes regional title

Concentrating on the game at hand has been the modus operandi for the Grayslake Central girls basketball team all season.

The Rams have carried over that strategy into the postseason.

The top-seeded Rams utilized their game plan to perfection en route to a 59-36 victory over No. 3 Antioch in the Class 3A North Chicago regional final Thursday night.

The Rams (26-3) won their first regional in several years and their fifth in school history.

“Feels good and you want to keep winning at this point in the year,” said Rams coach Steve Ikenn. “When we had that winning streak (22 games), we were taking things one game at a time and not looking ahead.

“Just what we did here, this was the only game we focused on. Now we can focus on Tuesday.”

The Rams will face the winner of today’s Gordon Tech regional final between Gordon Tech and Amundsen in their own sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“The Girls have worked hard for this and they don’t want their season to end,” Ikenn said. “We are going to work as hard as we can and keep it going as long as we can.”

The Rams scored the first 10 points Thursday and led 18-4 after the first quarter.

“We put pride on our tenacious defense,” said Ikenn, whose Rams held Antioch (17-11) without a basket in 15 field-goal attempts. “We also came out scoring, too, and converted our shots on the other end. It took the wind out of their (Antioch’s) sails.”

The Sequoits were unable to recover and trailed 30-14 at halftime.

“We didn’t make a basket in the first quarter,” said Sequoits coach Tim Borries, whose team has been knocked out of the regional final in three of the last four years. “That’s not a way to win a game. Maybe if we matched them with a couple of layups or shots it could’ve been a different outcome.

“Grayslake Central is well-coached and they shoot well. They shot 49 percent and we were 24. You’re not going to win many games shooting like that.”

Skyler Jessop led the Rams with 16 points, 6 rebounds and a couple of steals.

“At the beginning, we were able to hit our shots,” Jessop said.

“We are a group that plays well together. We were a little nervous. We’re just out there to have fun on the court.”

Rebekah Llorens contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds, Mandy Miller added 9 and Alex Scarbro chipped in with 8 points.

“Our goal was to get the regional championship,” Llorens said.

“It’s been one of our goals and something we’ve accomplished.”

Andi Potkonjak led Antioch with 11 points, and Lauren Tiffany added 6 points and 11 rebounds.