Thibeaux, Lovitsch come up big for Grayslake North

Grayslake North girls basketball fans clearly recall talented center Brittany Thibeaux, all 6-foot-1 of her.

After heading to college, she did leave behind her younger sister, Brandi Thibeaux, all 5-5 of her.

"Out of nowhere, she was tall,'' Brandi Thibeaux said. "I'm one of the smallest persons at my school."

Truth be told, if this freshman guard didn't play so well, home-standing Grayslake Central might have had a comfortable victory on rivalry night on Tuesday.

Young Thibeaux had a game-high 17 points. Still, the Rams held a 3-point lead with less than 10 seconds to play in regulation. And then sophomore Sidney Lovitsch hit a big 3-pointer to knot this game up at 40-40. Lovitsch scored 6 of her 7 points in the final seconds and overtime as North (6-9, 3-2) held off the Rams 48-44 in overtime.

"The freshman stepped up big-time for us,'' North coach, Rob Nicoletto said. "We needed that kind of game from her."

At the start of this game, it looked like the Rams (4-13, 1-4) looked like they would take control of this game. On a 3-pointer from sophomore Amanda Larson, Central's lead was 21-13 halfway through the second quarter.

"We made some shots early,'' said Central coach Steve Ikenn. "But give North credit. They hit the shot at the end. But for most part, we played a good game."

Thibeaux and her teammates heard a call to play better defense in the second half. And that was clearly answered as Central scored just 3 points in the third quarter. Yet despite 3-pointers from Maggie Fish (12 points) and Thibeaux, it was only a 3-point North advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

"We focused on defense,'' Thibeaux said. "We knew we had to play harder defense in the second half."

Central used the 3-pointer from Quin Garbett to knot it up a 31-31. And that was just the beginning. Lauren Spalding (9 points) hit a pair of free throws to give the Rams a nice working margin at 38-32 with less than three minutes to play. Thibeaux's drive to the hoop cut the Rams' lead to 2 points with a half minute to play.

North still trailed by a 3-pointer after 2 free throws from Garbett. A few errant 3-pointers went up for the Knights, but again the ball bounced to North each time. And then Lovitsch landed one to sent the game to the overtime session.

The Knights had excellent free throw shooting in the overtime session. Kelley O'Brien hit four in a row.

Thibeaux is stepping up well in her sister's absence.

"It's a great opportunity to be able to play with these great teammates,'' she said.