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Big finish for Warren, but Lake Forest takes Classic

You couldn't blame Warren's girls basketball team for pretending the Blue Devils Classic trophy will end up sitting in the case at the Almond Road campus.

After all, that Warren team had just soundly beaten Lake Forest 39-23 in the Blue Devil Classic finale to finish with a 4-1 record in the eight-team event.

The thing is, the Scouts and Grayslake Central also posted 4-1 tournament records.

And the deciding tiebreaker went in Lake Forest's favor, which had a better free throw percentage for the tournament.

"I guess we'll be practicing on our free throws a lot more," said Warren sophomore guard Macy Kocen.

"It's a strange tiebreaker, but we only have one trophy and they (Lake Forest) deserve it," said Warren assistant coach Ryan Skidmore, who assumed head coaching duties the last two days with John Stanczykiewicz attending his stepdaughter's wedding. "Our free throws ended up hurting us in the game last night when we missed a lot of front-ends. But I'm so proud of the girls. We ended the tournament on a good note.

"Give Lake Forest credit. They are a good team and well-coached, and I wouldn't be surprised if they contended for the conference title."

These two are very familiar foes, having played one another six times in the last 18 months. The series is now tied 3-3 after, with another conference game yet to go this season.

Both took turns trading punches in the first quarter, to the tune of five lead changes. Junior post player Ellie Pearson chipped in 4 points as Lake Forest trailed 10-8. Pearson finished with a team-high 9 points and was named to the all-tournament team along with Scouts sophomore guard Halle Douglass (5 points).

But Kocen answered. She tied her career-high with 10 points, including 8 in the first to spark Warren as Lake Forest paid extra attention to Warren's D-I commits, Kaylen Dickson (Wake Forest) and Jordyn Hughes (Eastern Illinois).

"We knew they were going to double-team our two D-I players, so that freed me up a lot," said Kocen who also had 4 rebounds. "But we did well, finishing on a good note."

Dickson's nifty layup started a 7-0 run to give the Devils the lead for good at 14-13 with 3:10 left in the half. Douglass' free throw kept Lake Forest close as it trailed 18-14 heading to the half.

But Dickson drained a 3 to open the second half and Warren looked to be pulling away.

Not so fast. Lake Forest still had some fight and drew to within 24-21 after a trey by junior forward Grace Tirzmalis (7 points) with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

Warren's stifling man-to-man defense really started frustrating the Scouts in the fourth and created some separation.

"We tried to be as aggressive as we could with our 'man' defense and take away the perimeter, and it turned out to work for us," said Skidmore, whose saw his Blue Devils force 17 turnovers, including 11 in the second half as Warren held the Scouts to 9 total points on 3-for-12 field goal shooting.

Dickson wound up scoring 7 of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, including 4-of-4 free throws down the stretch.

Dickson and Hughes (4 points) were named to the all-tournament team. Junior forward Dana Lundtveit popped in 8 points to go along with 6 boards for the Devils.

"We ended on a great note last season and that's carried over to this year," said Scouts coach and former Mundelein standout Kyle Wilhelm, who team slipped to 11-7 overall. "But I'm happy for the girls. They are working and playing hard and the intensity is there."

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