Girls basketball: Grayslake Central regroups, beats rival

Visiting Grayslake North came out fired up for its Northern Lake County Conference showdown against crosstown rival Grayslake Central on a snowy Wednesday night.

The Knights jumped out to a 13-7 lead over the Rams early in the second quarter on an 11-point run as their defense was able to stymie the Rams in the early going.

But after regrouping, Grayslake Central (11-9,7-1) went on a 16-5 run for the rest of the first half to take a 23-18 lead into the intermission.

From there, it was all Rams as they outscored Grayslake North (9-15, 4-4) 17-2 in the third quarter en route to a 46-29 NLCC victory.

The third 3-pointer of the game by Grayslake Central junior standout Peyton Hoffmann (game-high 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) got the Rams going in the second half before she scored off of a turnover to cap a 23-5 run for a 30-18 lead early in the third quarter.

"I feel like they came out with a lot of energy, they're a really good team so we knew we had to step it up and play team basketball," said Hoffmann, who had 10 points in the first half. "I think the difference was just us hitting those passes to each other for good shots and we started to play more team basketball. Our goal is just to be playing our best basketball by the end of the season and keep working hard in practice every day to get better."

Senior Jane Pritchard (7 points) hit a driving basket to cut the lead to 30-20. But the Knights could not contain the Rams' momentum as a 3-point play by Hoffmann and a driving basket by Lucy Otoo made the score 40-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

"We had to make some adjustments at halftime on how to attack their defense, they went on an 11-0 run early but then we finished up strong and went into the half with a five point lead," said Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn. "Peyton is a great all-around player, she doesn't have Division I offers for nothing, and the great thing about this team is they are really unselfish."

Ava Henne hit double figures with 11 points for Grayslake Central while junior Ashlyn Stoneham scored a team-high 9 points for the Knights. Lucy Roscoe scored 6 points for Grayslake North while teammate Anisah Lawrence had 4 points. Central's Mosey Drevline scored 5 points while Addison Thomas and Otoo had 4 points each. Bailey Betts and Autumn Aliff had 7 rebounds each for the Rams, who outrebounded the Knights 49-39 overall.

"They are a great program year in and year out, they're a good team, and it's my first year here so we're trying to establish the culture here," said North coach Sean Crary, who previously coached at Rockford Auburn. "They wore us down a little physically, but we've tied our win total from last year so we're getting better and I think the future for us is very strong."