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Nicoletti, Grayslake North get win No. 1

Here's a mathematical salute to tonight's leading scorers.

From that special Carmel squad from a year ago comes center, Emma Rappe. She scored 58 percent of her team's points in Tuesday's contest with Grayslake North.

And the Knights' budding star, Sidney Lovitsch, answered back with 45 percent of North's points.

So that's Rappe with 30 and Lovitsch with 25, or something close, right?

Not quite.

Back to reality. Both girls scored 10 points. This game at the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament had a halftime score of 8-5. Rappe and Lovitsch both were shut out in the first half.

Rappe scored her team's final 10 points, while Lovitsch hit a pair of 3-pointers as North registered its first win of the season, 22-17.

"We got the win,'' said North's first-year coach Rob Nicoletti. "I know it wasn't a clinic on how to play basketball. But we did enough to win."

On Monday night, the Knights let go of a healthy lead before falling to Mundelein. On a banked 3-point shot from Lovitsch midway through the third quarter, the Knights' lead was 16-7.

And then Rappe decided to take over for her young Corsairs. She scored 6 points in a row ending the third quarter and cutting the North lead to 16-13.

Despite two losses to open the tourney, Lovitsch isn't complaining about her decidedly vocal team.

"We are very, very loud,'' Lovitsch said. "It's a great group of girls. We bring a lot of energy. And we are never negative with each other."

Lovitsch, a sophomore, got an early start in this sport.

"It was back in first grade,'' she said. "My dad noticed I was athletic. I wanted to play volleyball. But I really fell in love with basketball."

After Rappe calmly drilled 4 straight free throws early in the fourth quarter, the Knights' lead was down to 20-17. The young Corsairs were forced to come out of their zone and chase the Knights. That plan almost worked.

The Knights missed 6 free throws down the stretch but were saved by two straight foul shots by freshman guard Haley Leanna. Again, scoring was at a premium on this evening.

"I think our zone was a good choice,'' said Carmel coach, Kelly Perz. "But there was some ugly offense today."

Carmel (1-2) didn't get much help on the offensive side of the ball. If there was one bright spot it came from sophomore Daija Pruitt. She dropped in a short shot to close out the halftime, and she followed Lovitsch's first 3-pointer with a 12-footer early in the third quarter. Pruitt backed up Rappe with 6 points.

The though shooting night applied to the free throw line, too, where the teams combined to shoot 8-for-31.

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