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Linbo hurt as Grant loses big

Grant's girls basketball fans had to hold their collective breath when center Jazzlyn Linbo hit her head on the floor during the third quarter of Thursday's game against De La Salle in third-day action of the Bulldogs' holiday tournament.

"We were battling and our arms got hooked," Linbo said of her and her defender. "It hurt, but I'll be OK."

Linbo stayed down for a few minutes before walking off under her own power. There was 3:29 left in the quarter, and she did not return to the game.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Geist said she would enter concussion protocol.

"We want to be safe," Geist said.

When play resumed, so did an uncharacteristic outcome. Grant, which played its best game of the year on Monday against Waukegan, Geist said, couldn't overcome a big deficit in losing to the Meteors 67-30.

Grant (9-5), which had won seven of its last eight, slipped to 2-1 in the six-team tournament and will play Warren at 1 p.m. Friday. De La Salle improved to 7-7 and 1-2 in the tourney.

"I think we're still on vacation," said Geist. "This is nothing like we've been playing. We just had too many mental lapses and couldn't make a basket."

Linbo usually gets going in the paint at some point.

"But they were fast and good shooters," Linbo said after finishing with 10 points, 6 boards and 3 blocks. "We need to do better at shifting over to the other side when they pass. And it's on me, but we also needed to do better guarding when they drove on us."

The Bulldogs dug a big hole early, trailing 20-5 late in the first quarter. Sophomore forward Ashlyn Santos drilled a 3-pointer to draw Grant within 20-8.

"We took timeouts to get set up but once we got down, we couldn't catch up and it got into our heads," Linbo said. "We just got out of sorts. We need to play tougher and run what we know how to run."

De La Salle was running its own inside-outside game and went on a 15-2 run. It culminated with a basket at the 2:17 mark of the second and a 35-10 lead.

Linbo scored 6 points in the second quarter.

Grant sophomore guard MaCalyn Flores dished out 3 assists and had 3 steals.

The Meteors took a 38-14 lead into halftime and didn't let up. De La Salle outscored Grant 29-16 in the second half.

Junior guard TaKiya Howard scored 18 points for De La Salle to lead all scorers.

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