Defense spurs Grayslake Central past St. Viator in Blenner final

Grayslake Central used a superb defensive effort in the second quarter to help turn the tide Monday. The Rams forced 7 second quarter turnovers to change the game and lift them past St. Viator 52-38 Monday in the title game of the 37th annual Blenner Holiday Varsity Girls Basketball Classic at St. Viator in Arlington Heights.

"We tend to feed off our defense," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "I thought we turned up the intensity defensively and that kind of got us going. For us it is those little defensive adjustments that we have to make. They feed off the energy."

St. Viator (5-8) hit four layups and a three-pointer as the Lions surged to an 11-5 lead last in the first quarter.

That's when the Rams (13-3) dialed things up.

With tournament MVP and Illinois State-commit Kate Bullman and all-tournament selection Amanda Kocialkowski leading the way, Grayslake began to squeeze Viator on both ends of the court.

"We knew we were going to have to play our game because St. Viator is a real good team," said Bullman, who finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds.

"We knew they were a strong offensive team so we knew we would have to play solid defense the whole game."

Kocialkowski, who had just 4 points offensively, played tough defense on the Lions' leading scorer Joy Bergstrom. Kocialkowski limited her to just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

"I think everyone played good 'help' defense tonight," Kocialkowski said. "We worked together and did a lot of talking to make it all work."

With the turnovers, Grayslake Central was able to bolt to a 25-15 halftime lead.

The Rams used an 11-2 spurt midway in the second quarter as Grayslake looked to pull away with a 42-21 lead.

The Lions, however, had other ideas. Baskets by Aubrey Horbach and 3s by Kate Peterson and Gabby Brown sparked a 10-0 run and the Lions cut the lead to 42-31 with 7:24 to play.

Grayslake again turned up the defensive pressure and Viator was not able to get closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"We are playing well right now," Ikenn said. "We just try to work in things and get better each day."

St. Viator coach Jason Raymond says his team is making progress.

"There have been a lot of learning experiences this year," Raymond said. "We have grown defensively the past couple months. We have played a tough schedule and I think that has helped us. Our next step is to be able to battle on a consistent basis."

MK Drevline and Madeline Mussay each had 10 points for Grayslake Central. Nora Ahram had 10 points for St. Viator while Horbach and Peterson each had 6 points.