Defense does it again for Grayslake Central
The focus for Grayslake Central's girls basketball team was defense on Tuesday night.
And now the top-seeded Rams (26-5) can focus on a Class 3A St. Viator sectional championship game against No. 2 Vernon Hills (24-5) on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
"You've got to take one game at a time," said Rams coach Steve Ikenn after Rams put the clamps on No. 4 Grayslake North (21-9) with 56-30 triumph. "What we did tonight was great. But when we play Thursday, no one cares what happened Tuesday night."
What did happen at Cahill Gymnasium at St. Viator on Tuesday was a third straight exhibition of top flight defense by the Rams, who held their regionals opponents to 13 points (Senn) and 18 points (Johnsburg) .
This time, Central's defense didn't allow a point in the fourth quarter until the Knight's Emily Stinner hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left in the game.
"Defensively, we always try to play 100 percent hard-nosed man-to-man," said Rams senior Skyler Jessop. "We know you can always play tough defense."
In other words, defense can make up for things when the offense isn't clicking.
But Jessop made sure the offense was clicking, too, tossing in a game-high 19 points and doing a nice job distributing the ball with some key assists.
After a tight first quarter, Jessop hit a 14-footer to start the second period, then made a nice pass across the paint to give sophomore Morgan Dahlstrom (7 points, game-high 15 rebounds) an easy layup and 17-11 lead for the Rams.
"I'd say I like passing more than scoring," said the 5-foot-9 Jessop. "I like getting everyone else involved. It's harder to defend us when we have everyone passing the ball around."
Moments after Dahlstrom's layup, Jessop tossed home a 3-pointer and the Rams surged ahead 28-17 lead at intermission.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by senior Claire Brennan early in the second half extended the lead to 36-19.
When Jessop picked up her fourth foul with 3:45 left in the third quarter, Ikenn went to senior guard Emma Shepard (4 points) and the Rams did not miss a beat.
"Emma did a nice job alleviating the pressure with Skyler out of game," Ikenn said. "Skyler had another great game. I thought Sarah Kuligowski (senior guard) gave us some great minutes off the bench."
Senior forward Beth Arnold and Brennan each finished with 9 points for Central while the Knights were paced by sophomore guard Kendall Detweiler (8 points) and senior guard Katie McGrath (6).
McGrath also pulled down 11 rebounds while junior guard Jordyn Bowen had 6 as Grayslake North completed its most successful season in the school's six-year history.
Its 21 wins and 13-game winning streak this season were school records and the Rams won their first tourney championship (16-team McHenry Christmas event)
North was second (8-4) to Grayslake Central (12-0) in the Fox Valley Conference's Fox Division.
"I give all the credit to my seniors (McGrath, Sara Steinhoff, Allie Ceglarek, Brooke Sauer and Christina Freese)," said coach Jim Sarver, who started the program. "Three of them have been on varsity four years. They all got us to the point we're at.
"We did a lot of nice things this season. I told our kids getting to the final 32 after not getting a lot of respect last year, they left their mark."
Grayslake Central put its third mark in the win column against Grayslake North this season after wins of 41-26 and 48-37 in league play.
"Grayslake Central is a quality team," Sarver said. "We missed some easy shots and they came down and made baskets so those were 4-point turnarounds.
"But give them (Rams) credit. They finish shots. They execute well. When they run their stuff, they are tough to stop. It wouldn't be a surprise to me at all if they roll all the way down state."