Grayslake Central pulls away from Wauconda

What happened in that second quarter?

On Friday night, Grayslake Central visited Wauconda in girls basketball And you could not have had a more entertaining first quarter.

Central (8-2, 4-0) led by a whisper, 19-18. Maybe both teams could score in the 100s.

Except, the Rams turned it on defensively in the second quarter and they scored the first 15 points of that quarter.

"We just started stretching out the lead,'' said Central center Kate Bullman.

Central stayed unbeaten in the Northern Lake County Conference with an impressive 71-57 road win.

Bullman had her usual strong contest with 20 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks.

Teammate, MK Drevline landed four 3-pointers on the way to 15 points.

"I'd like to thank my teammates for getting me the ball when I was open,'' Drevline noted.

Bullman tossed Drevline a compliment.

"MK really worked on her shot,'' Bullman said.

Bullman had only 4 points in the opening quarter. However, teammate Amanda Kocialkowski had a fast start with 6 points.

Wauconda (5-3, 2-2) stayed right with the Rams in the opening quarter. Mackenzie Arden had the first 3-pointer for her Bulldogs. She led the team with 20 points.

Wauconda showed some life late in the half. Morgan Lung made a layup. Two seconds later, Arden made a steal and a layup. It still was a ballgame at 36-25.

"We just needed to stay patient on offense,''' said Central coach Steve Ikenn. "They did a nice job in that second quarter. We just went back to basics."

Central opened the second half with three 3-pointers. Arden kept her team close as the Bulldogs pulled within 51-42.

"The final score is not at all indicative of how close this game was," said Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis. "We had it cut to 4 a couple times in the fourth. It started out as a horse race. Up and down at a furious pace and we matched them punch-for-punch.

"Unfortunately we had a horrendous second quarter, not scoring until the final 1:30 of the quarter. We struggled to execute on the offensive end and that ended up being the difference in the game. We played three great quarters of basketball and they played four. The effort was there we just lacked the consistency and you can't do that against a good team. I am proud that the team never gave up, continued to fight and made it a game."