Maine South downs Grayslake Central

Grayslake Central couldn't miss in that first quarter of the Bison Classic girls basketball tournament Thursday night at Buffalo Grove.

The Rams never trailed early. Kate Bullman, fresh off a solid volleyball campaign, had a personal 9-point run in that quarter as the Rams lead over Maine South was 15-9.

And then what happened? Grayslake Central turned the ball over just once in the first quarter. And then there were six straight turnovers. Fifteen points in the first quarter and just a spinning layup from senior MK Drevline in the second.

Maine South took the hint. The Hawks never trailed the rest of the way and pinned the first defeat on the Rams, 45-32.

"In that first quarter, we showed a lot of patience," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "We seemed to rush things and we were off on a different tempo. But give some credit to Maine South. They played really good defense on us,."

The Hawks had another scorer to behold. Nicole Gardiner went on her own personal run of points in the second quarter. It was also a 9-point run, highlighted by 2 steals and a 3-pointer.

Maine South was up at halftime 25-17.

"We missed some shots," Ikenn said. "Maine South took advantage of our mistakes. And they took us out of our offense."

Again, turnovers plagued the Rams to open the third quarter. The Hawks' lead hit double figures. Bullman led the Rams with 11 points but she fouled out late in the game.

While Bullman had her team's lone 3-pointer, the Hawks took advantage of that shot to expand the lead. Erin Clark led Maine South with two 3s.

Neither team played with much purpose in the final quarter. The Rams did manage to get to the free-throw line but missed three of those shots.

Kristy Heerdegen backed up Bullman with 6 points.