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Dundee-Crown gets past Grayslake Central

Katelyn Skibinski made the first field goal for the Dundee-Crown girls basketball team Saturday - a 3-pointer - just 30 seconds into the game.

Skibinski then made the next-to-last field goal for the Chargers, a 2-pointer that was just her second basket of the game.

But in between those 5 points, the 5-foot-7 sophomore was all over the floor doing other things than scoring, helping the Chargers earn a 30-25 win over Grayslake Central in a nonconference defensive battle in Carpentersville.

Where Skibinski's talents were most effective were on defense and distributing the basketball. She had 4 assists and 3 steals and was front and center in helping the Chargers force the Rams into 20 turnovers.

"Coach always talks about how our defense drives our offense," said Skibinski. "As a team we came together. We knew we had to force turnovers. I just try to help the team on defense and on offense I do my best to help people get open and my teammates help me get open shots."

D-C coach Sarah Miller appreciates Skibinski's contributions.

"She totally drives and creates," Miller said. "She's trying to make things happen for our team and she's all over the place defensively. We needed her energy today."

The Chargers (7-4) trailed only once in the game - 5-3 midway through the first quarter. But once they got the lead back they could never extend it as the Rams (7-4), who had a 4-game winning streak snapped, played some pretty good defense of their own.

"It was an old-fashioned defensive game," said Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn. "Lots of really good defense today."

That was especially true in the second half when the teams combined to score just 18 points.

After D-C led 20-17 at halftime, the Chargers were able to grab their biggest lead of the game at 24-17 on an 8-footer from junior Kendall Kieltyka with 4:06 left in the third quarter.

But, D-C didn't score again for nearly 7 minutes as the Rams eventually closed the gap to 24-23 after 2 free throws from junior Maura Fitzgerald with 7:21 left in the game.

The Chargers came back with a reverse hook from Skibinski and a putback basket by freshman Alyssa Crenshaw to go ahead by 5 again, 28-23, with 3:19 left.

The trend of the game continued and the Rams could manage only 2 free throws from sophomore Kate Bullman the rest of the way while D-C freshman Gianine Boado made 2 free throws with 22 seconds left for the final margin.

Senior Maddie Tripp led D-C, which was 12 of 34 shooting, with 10 points while Crenshaw added 6 points and 4 rebounds.

"Keeping a team to 25 is good," Miller said. "We played well defensively, and (the Rams) did too. But we have to find more looks at the hoop. We need to let those big stops drive us to score more."

Bullman paced the Rams with 13 points including two 3-pointers but Ikenn was quick to credit the strong play of junior Kristina Heerdegen, who scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds in her first varsity start, which was necessitated by the absence of senior Payton Gosell, who sat out the game with a minor injury.

"Kristy Heerdegen's first career start and she did a nice job on both ends of the floor. We just struggled to put the ball in the basket," said Ikenn, whose team was just 8 of 36 shooting. "Give (the Chargers) credit. They put pressure on us and took us out of some our offensive things, so tip your hat to them."

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