Grayslake North charges back to beat Dundee-Crown
If Grayslake North's girls basketball team can ride the momentum of its fourth quarter Friday night into the postseason, the Knights could be a team to not take lightly.
Grayslake North dumped 26 points through the basket in the final quarter to notch a 54-49 come-from-behind win over Dundee-Crown in a Fox Valley Conference crossover of the league's two third place teams in Carpentersville.
"Dundee-Crown's a very good team but our girls just played their butts off," said Knights' coach Rob Nicoletti, whose team won its fourth straight and fifth in its last six games. "I'm really proud of them. To come into this place and win, it's a great win."
After each team suffered through a lackluster first half tied 15-15, things heated up after the break, but it was the host Chargers (15-15) who looked like they'd run away with a senior night win.
D-C went on an 11-0 run to turn a 20-19 lead into a 31-19 advantage after a Kayla Lawrence putback with 2:57 left in the third quarter. But the Knights (16-13) quickly got back into the game with a 6-0 spurt then outscored the Chargers 29-18 the rest of the way.
"We just started working together, talking, running our offense," said Grayslake North senior Maggie Fish, who had 9 points, 5 of them in the fourth quarter. "In the first half we were just standing, not communicating."
Despite getting back into the game the Knights still trailed 45-44 after D-C's Melissa Barker split a pair of free throws with 3:09 left in the game. But a Fish free throw with 2:49 left tied it, then her putback after a missed Knights shot and a scrum for the rebound put Grayslake North ahead for good, 47-45, with 1:59 left. The Knights led 52-46 when a Barker 3-pointer made things interesting with 59 seconds left but D-C couldn't take advantage of a couple of missed North free throws and after a big offensive rebound from senior Sam Villwock, freshman Brandi Thibeaux knocked down 2 free throws with 14 seconds to go for the final margin.
"We finally started getting some stops and that's something we pride ourselves in," said Nicoletti. "We want to be a defensive team. Finally in the fourth quarter we started moving the ball and trusting our teammates and we got better looks."
"We decided to pack it in a little and focus on our pressure," said Fish of the Knights' defense, which helped cause 8 D-C turnovers in the fourth quarter.
North recovered from shooting 5-for-31 in the first half to finish 16 of 40 (percent) and the Knights had only 9 turnovers in the game. Sophomore Sidney Lovitsch led the Knights with 12 points, Villwock (12 rebounds) added 9 and junior Abbey Stinner had 8.
"We're on a little winning streak so this should give us some momentum going into our regional game on Monday," said Fish.
The Knights host a Class 4A regional where they are the No. 15 seed in the Palatine sectional. They play No. 19 seed Waukegan Monday at 7 p.m. with the winner getting No. 2 Prospect on Tuesday.
For Dundee-Crown, the No. 1 seed in next week's Elgin regional, it was a disappointing end to the regular season for a team that had won four straight and five of its last six.
"We had an opportunity to pull away in the third quarter but we stopped playing at crucial moments when we needed to get stops," said D-C coach Sarah Miller. "Give credit to Grayslake North. They never stopped playing. It's disappointing. Sorry it had to happen on senior night. We need to make sure we learn from this because we have a great opportunity in front of us next week."
Senior Creighton Fed led the Chargers with 17 points, Barker had 10 and Jesania Laboy had 9 points and 14 rebounds.