Round Lake makes statement but Grant prevails
On the eve of their biggest game in who knows how long, Round Lake's girls basketball players went shopping.
"We all went and bought headbands (Wednesday) night after our JV game," said junior Labrenthia Murdock, crediting senior teammate Brittany Kucia with the fashion-statement suggestion.
So when the Panthers ran onto their home court to face Grant in a first-place showdown in the North Suburban Prairie Division on Thursday night, they were all wearing white headbands to match their white uniforms.
The girls in white played all right.
Better than that, actually, but Grant hit just enough free throws in the end to pull out a 52-50 win in front of one of the largest crowds in recent memory for a girls basketball game at Round Lake.
"I had so much adrenaline going through me," Grant senior Tori Ziegler said. "It was so crazy. I knew (Round Lake) was were good, but … We knew we had to play a really tough game."
"We were so ready," Kucia said. "We wanted everyone to come support us. I think this is the biggest crowd we've ever had. The crowd was huge."
Grant improved to 17-2 overall and 7-0 in the NSC Prairie with its 11th straight win. Round Lake, which had its eight-game winning streak snapped, fell to 15-3 and 5-2.
"I would rather play a game like that than play a game where you know you're better than the other team," said Gary Edge, whose Panthers are having their best season since he coached them to the first-ever NSC Prairie title in 2001. "Who knows, we might go over there and get blown out. But tonight that was two pretty evenly matched basketball teams getting after it.
"They made a couple of runs, we made a couple of runs. They've got some very, very good players. I thought our kids stepped up and met the challenge."
Round Lake used a 13-0 run in the second quarter to go up 22-11, but Grant finished the half with a 10-1 burst to pull within 23-21.
The rest of the game was nip and tuck. The Panthers held a 34-28 advantage after a Corinne Conrad layup with 51 seconds left in the third quarter. But Jamie Swanson quickly rattled off 7 points, with her buzzer-beater on the baseline giving Grant a 35-34 lead entering the fourth.
Swanson finished with a game-high 23 points and 5 rebounds.
"She's our horse," Grant coach Tom Oeffling said of his leading scorer and veteran forward. "We expect her to carry a heavy load offensively, and she's taken on that role for us. She needs to keep that up if we want to go anywhere in the state tournament."
Swanson fed Ziegler for a 10-foot jumper to give Grant the lead for good at 39-37 with 5:57 left, but the Panthers wouldn't go away. The Bulldogs missed 6 free throws in the final 1:33.
Swanson missed the second of two with 7.2 seconds left. Round Lake quickly dribbled the ball into the front court but couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.
"I thought (Round Lake) played a very good game," Oeffling said. "They were totally prepared for us. Whatever we threw at them, they handled. We couldn't sneak anything up on them. That's what Gary Edge does."
Ziegler (9 rebounds) and Autumn Gaylor each had 9 points for Grant.
Murdock led Round Lake with 12 points, including a 3-pointer with two minutes left to get the Panthers within 46-45. She also had 9 rebounds. Amber Phillips had 10 points, 6 boards and 3 blocks. Jazzamin Rivers added 9 points.
"We were very, very, very pumped," Murdock said. "We've been talking about this game for at least a month. This was the biggest game of our season. They're our rival, we know the girls on the team, and there was a lot of intensity. The pressure was on."