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No trouble for Grayslake Central in win over Warren

Every time Grayslake Central junior Kate Bullman steps on the court to play Warren, she hears it.

A whistle.

Which is followed by a referee scanning her jersey to confirm her number.

"The last two years we played Warren, I've been in foul trouble every time," Bullman said with a sheepish grin.

Thursday was no different.

Bullman picked up 2 early fouls, sat the rest of the half and then was whistled for another foul in the third quarter and headed to the bench again. The Rams fared just well enough without the Division-I prospect to capture a 39-25 win over the host school in third-day action of Warren's Blue Devil Classic in Gurnee.

Grayslake Central improved to 13-4 and 3-0 in the tournament, which resumes Friday with the Rams playing Quincy Senior at 1:30 p.m.

"Kate got into some early foul trouble, but everybody else stepped up," coach Steve Ikenn said after his Rams stretched their winning streak to eight games, while delivering Warren (3-13, 0-3 tourney) its seventh loss in a row.

Coming off Wednesday's effort that saw her set career-best marks for points (31) and 3-pointers (5), Bullman still finished with 8 points, a game-high 9 rebounds and 4 assists in just 16 minutes and 27 seconds. She sat the entire second quarter.

"My mindset going into the Warren game was to try to stay out of foul trouble, and it didn't happen," Bullman said. "When I'm sitting on the bench, my job is just to cheer the team on, (explain) what to do, worry about matchups, and do all the things that I can to help my team out."

Without Bullman on the court, Grayslake Central struggled offensively. The Rams led only 18-14 at the break after Warren's Trenise Powe banked in a shot in the lane to beat the buzzer.

"The way I looked at it was, we held (Warren) to 14 points with Kate sitting on the bench for most of the first half," Ikenn said. "I think any time you got a player like Kate sitting that long and you still come out of a half with a four-point lead, you're feeling pretty good about things."

With a double-digit total of D-I scholarship offers, Bullman continues to impress by more than just scoring and rebounding. The Rams led by 16 points late in the fourth quarter when she threw her 6-foot-2 frame on the court to secure a loose ball.

"That's the way she plays," Ikenn said. "That's why she's such a great all-around player. It's because she does play hard all the time, and she cares as much about the defensive end as she does the offensive end. She's not just looking to score points. She's looking to do her job on the defensive end, too."

Rosie Drevline also scored 8 points to tie Bullman (two 3-pointers) for team-high honors. Maura Fitzgerald contributed 7 points and 4 steals.

Breleigh Gula led Warren with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 6 rebounds.

"Regardless of the score, I still see improvement in this team," Blue Devils coach John Stanczykiewicz said. "It's a matter of trying to find the right five pieces that are going to be playing well on a given day."

Stanczykiewicz estimated he's used 10 different starting lineups this season. Gula, Powe, Julia Retter, Jesette Ezernack and Jataia Harris received starts against Grayslake Central.

"The message to the team is and will continue to be, 'If you play hard and you play well and positive things happen when you're on the court, you'll get more playing time,' " said Stanczykiewicz, whose Blue Devils play Deerfield (0-3 tournament) at 3 p.m. Friday. "That's who we are right now. We're a team that's wildly inconsistent."

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