Composure's the key for Grayslake Central against Lakes

Staying on top of its game with a strength for Grayslake Central's girls basketball team.

So was applying consistent defense, as the Rams pulled out a 46-36 victory over visiting Lakes in a Northern Lake County Conference game in Grayslake on Friday night.

Katie Bullman led the Rams with 15 points, while Rosie Drevline and Jordyn Gosell dropped in 9 points apiece.

Grayslake Central to 4-0 in the NLCC and 6-4 overall, while Lakes dropped to 2-8 and 1-3.

"It's the thing that we preach - it's defense," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "Once we got it going and got that defensive intensity . . . the best offense is a good defense. We were able to force some turnovers and converted on them. We were able to feed off of that and I thought that really got us on a roll."

The Rams are a team that is learning how staying composed can benefit them, and they seem to be getting better at it each time out.

"Composure is a huge thing, and we didn't turn the ball over a lot," Ikenn said. "Lakes was throwing us different looks defensively. I thought we were able to show offensive patience."

Lakes was the aggressor at the start and jumped out to an 8-0 advantage in the first few minutes. But Grayslake Central chipped away to trail 8-6 at the end of the first eight minutes.

In the second quarter, the Rams' tough defense took over. Grayslake Central outscored Lakes 23-9 for a 29-17 advantage at the break.

"We did have a great start," said Lakes coach Brian Phelan, whose team stunned Warren last week. "We were running a good offense and we were making the shots. It got us into a good defensive rhythm. We were playing great defense to that point.

"Then the second quarter happened, (Grayslake Central) started making shots and played some great defense. We just didn't adjust well enough to their trap and then fell behind."

The Eagles made some adjustments in the third quarter Paule Cernevic (9 points) converted a three-point play that cut the lead to 30-27 with 2:23 left.

"We brought it back and battled," Phelan said. "We really did a good job of rebounding. We also did a good job on defense contesting all of the shots and seemed to handle the press better. But then we had some mistakes here and there, along with some missed shots."

Drevline hit a jumper for the Rams with 2:05 remaining and made a couple of free throws that raised the lead to 33-27 heading into the final quarter.

Jordyn Gosell took over, hitting a 3 and a couple of layups in a 9-2 run that lifted the lead to 42-29 with 2:42 left.

"We just worked the ball well as a team," Gosell said. "We pushed the ball up the floor and got fastbreaks. It helped us with the momentum, and we hit the shots."