Girls basketball: Grayslake Central clinches 3rd straight NLCC crown
Grayslake Central held off a scrappy Wauconda team 53-42 on Saturday in Wauconda to win the Northern Lake County Conference outright title.
It is the third consecutive title for Grayslake Central (23-5, 13-0).
“It wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. “And it wasn’t. Every time we got a little bit of a lead they cut it. But this team has heart. Every time they made a run, we stretched it back out.”
Grayslake Central looked like they were going to roll to the title early. The Rams, led by Peyton Hoffmann and Madison Hoffmann, scored 12 unanswered points, to lead 12-2.
“We have worked for this all year,” said Madison Hoffmann, who is a senior and will play at Wisconsin-Green Bay next season.
“The whole team says that it will start with the energy and the defense. I think our defense was what started it for us tonight.”
Wauconda (20-3, 11-2), which came into the game trailing the Rams by just one game in the conference, could not find the bottom of the net. The Bulldogs hit just 2 of their first 17 shots.
Wauconda then heated up to close out the quarter and keep its title hopes alive. A three-pointer by Avery Geoghan and a three-point play by Grace Parker pulled to Bulldogs to within 14-10 after the one period.
Grayslake found another spurt behind Mosey Drevline. The Rams opened the quarter with 6 unanswered points, with Drevline scoring four, on their way to an 8-1 run to lead 22-11.
Wauconda, which missed its first 7 shots to open the quarter, found the mark again. With Kelsey Piehl leading the way, the Bulldogs closed out the quarter on a 9-2 run to make it 24-20 at the half.
Katelyn Marcelain then ignited another huge run for the Rams. Her basket to open the third quarter started a 9-2 run as the Rams opened up a 33-22 lead with 4:46 left in the quarter on a basket by Annie Wolff.
“We do pride ourselves on our defense,” said Peyton Hoffmann, who is a sophomore. “We were a little slow in the beginning, but we picked things up, especially in the second half.”
But this time, Wauconda didn’t have an answer.
The Bulldogs tried to chip away at the lead, but never could get closer than seven points. Poor shooting (19 of 64, 30%), especially early in the game, helped doom Wauconda.
“We gave them all that they could handle,” Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said. “We were scrappy. Even when we were down, we never gave up.”
Madison Hoffmann led Grayslake Central with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Peyton Hoffmann had 13 points and 5 blocks, Marcerlain had 10 points, while Drevline and Wolff each had 7 points.
Wauconda was led by Ashley Maxwell who had 14 points. Grace Parker added 13 points while Emma Wisniewski had 6 points, Piehl 5 points and Alexia Manalo 4 points.