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Harrity, Grant lay down the law in NLCC showdown

College recruiters, it's time to move on.

Yes, it's quite clear Grant High School senior Mallory Harrity could play at the next level. It's just that she doesn't want to go on to college with a basketball attached to her.

Instead, she'll study criminal justice. As in, don't speed or she'll pick you up one day.

Harrity was a force on Wednesday night at home. On tap was the biggest girls hoops game of the NLCC season.

If visiting Grayslake Central came out on top, the race in the Northern Lake County Conference would be over. And on a 3-point play from sophomore Kate Bullman, the Central lead was 11-4 midway through the opening quarter.

That was the extent of the excitement for the Rams. Grant closed the half on a 26-9 run and notched a tie in league play with an impressive 55-45 win.

"We really came out with high energy,'' Harrity noted. "We weren't going to let them beat us on our home floor."

The Bulldogs (14-7, 7-1) earned some respect with this signature win.

"They are a good team,'' said Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn. "They are a very solid team. Our interior defense wasn't all that good tonight. Whenever we made a defensive mistake, they took advantage of it."

Grant coach Kevin Geist, in his first year at the helm, recalled the first time these two teams met on Central's home floor. In many ways it was similar to this meeting. Central opened up a double digit lead and Grant cut it down to single digits. Still, the Rams won.

"I just told them to play within themselves tonight,'' Geist said. "We have potential and we took advantage of it tonight. We have great chemistry here."

Harrity, of course, was in the middle of the big rally that overtook this game. She had four quick points of her game-high 17 as the second quarter opened.

And then she handed over the scoring duties to the youngest member of the inside tandem. Freshman Jazzlyn Linbo had 6 straight points in the quarter. And Ally Mahinay's 3-pointer really opening things up as Grant led at the halftime break 30-21.

"We really had high energy tonight,'' Mahinay claimed. "We weren't going to let Central get into our heads."

Mahinay checked in with 12 points.

"They had a lot of open shots tonight,'' Ikenn said. "I still think we made a game of out it at the end."

Harrity had a burst of her own in the third quarter. Her personal 6-point run extended the Bulldogs' lead to 16 points at 41-25.

Central (14-7, 7-1) had its run in the final quarter. The Bulldogs' advantage dipped below 10 points on free throws from Jordyn Gosell (7 points). Bullman (14 points) had 7 of those tallies in the fourth quarter.

Grant tied up the league race by salting the game away at the free throw line as Kennedy Kiesgan, Mercedes Uribe and Mahinay made good on their chances.

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