Grayslake Central grinds past Grant in NLCC

The wins are piling up.

But they are getting tougher to come by.

As the only unbeaten girls basketball team left in the Northern Lake County Conference, Grayslake Central is getting chased hard.

On Wednesday night, visiting Grant caught up to the Rams. And even overtook them.

But not for long enough to get a victory.

Grayslake Central survived Grant's best shot, and came back from a second-half deficit to pull away with a 53-44 Northern Lake County Conference victory.

That moves the Rams to 14-6 overall and 8-0 in league play. Grant drops to 8-13 overall and 4-4 in the NLCC.

"There's a little bit of (getting the other team's best shot)," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "But this conference is full of really good teams and this was a great game. Grant has a lot of weapons and is well-coached. This game was really anyone's game. We were just able to pull through at the end.

"We're playing one game at a time and not looking at anything other than that next night. You don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. We just work hard every day, we play well together and the seniors want to go out with the best record they can.

"There are going to be ups and downs along the way and you've got to fight through them."

Grayslake Central started with an up.

The Rams out-scored Grant 22-10 in the first quarter on the strength of 5 three-pointers, three by Rosie Drevline (9 points total) and two by Amanda Larson (17 points total).

Early in the second quarter, Grayslake Central had built the lead to 15 points.

But then came a swing in the other direction when Grant reeled off 18 of the next 20 points to climb right back in the game. A three-pointer by sophomore guard Ally Mahinay at the halftime buzzer actually gave the Bulldogs a lead at the break, 31-29.

"We just needed to take our time (on offense) and we started doing that," said Grant senior forward Keyana Linbo, who scored 8 of her team-high 14 points in the big second-quarter run. "We pushed all the way back.

"But we let off the gas. Everyone was kind of like, 'Oh, we're ahead.' And instead of finishing it, we just kind of sat back."

The Bulldogs then traded baskets with Grayslake Central, and the score was tied 38-38 with about a minute left in the third quarter.

But then Grayslake Central went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter.

"We stopped doing what we do best," said Grant coach Chris Van Alstine, who also got double-figures out of Ameerah Muhammed (10 points). "And that is fighting. When we get up on a team, sometimes we sit back and go, 'This is awesome.' Instead of going for the finish.

"We'll kind of take a break, and good teams like (Grayslake Central) find a way to take advantage of that. I told our players that this one is going to sting."

Grayslake Central, which also got double-figures out of Lindsay Brust (11 points) as well as 9 points apiece out of Drevline and Kate Bullman, never allowed Grant to get closer than 5 points throughout the fourth quarter.

The Rams kept up with their pressure trapping defense, which helped cause 27 Grant turnovers on the night.

"We finally started to take our time on offense, and box out on rebounds and that showed (at the end of) the third quarter," said Larson, who has been playing with bronchitis since the holidays. "We were a lot more focused. It was step by step and we gained a little more confidence."