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Grayslake Central downs Wauconda to stay unbeaten in NLCC

It isn't talked about. Ever.

At least not during the season.

Grayslake Central girls basketball coach Steve Ikenn insists on it.

But his players know about the streak. They are aware of the fact that it's been a long, long time since the Rams have lost a game in the Northern Lake County Conference.

"This means a lot," Grayslake Central junior guard MK Drevline said. "We've been holding the conference championship the last couple of years, so it's been good to keep the wins going. We have to keep the streak going."

Grayslake Central did just that on Saturday night.

The Rams held off a persistent Wauconda team that sits behind them in second place in the Northern Lake County Conference standings, pulling out a 60-52 victory on their own floor.

The win keeps Grayslake Central (22-3) undefeated in league play, moving its record to a sparkling 11-0. Last year, the Rams, who have won 14 straight games, also won the NLCC title with a perfect record.

"We won the conference title my freshman year, too, but we tied with another team," said Drevline, who played on the varsity with her sister Rosie her freshman year. "I think teamwork is really important for us. My sister was a really good leader and I think she helped me with that to keep it going and keep the team connected."

Speaking of connections, Drevline made a few big ones against Wauconda, which had won seven games in a row prior to this game. The Bulldogs are now 16-6 on the season, 8-3 in the NLCC.

Drevline hit 2 clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep Wauconda at arm's length. She finished with 14 points on a total of four 3-pointers. The Rams also got 16 points apiece out of center Kate Bullman, who will be playing at Illinois State next year, and Amanda Kocialkowski.

Wauconda, which got off to a rocky start and trailed 19-5 after the first quarter, was down by 15 points to start the third quarter. But the Bulldogs kept chipping away and eventually cut their deficit to just 4 points (43-39) midway through the fourth quarter.

That's when Drevline hit one of her 3-pointers, and Wauconda never got closer than 6 points again.

"MK is a clutch shooter," Ikenn said. "We're a more up-tempo, outside shooting team than we've been in the past. But we still play really tough-nosed defense.

"Every team we've had is different, but this team has a lot of tenacity like we have had in the past. They don't want to lose a game. We don't talk about streaks. We never do. We just have one goal, which is to win tonight. We go one at a time. We don't talk about streaks. I don't ever talk to them about it. That's something you look at when the season is over."

Neither Grayslake Central or Wauconda believe that the end is even close. Both teams are expecting long runs in the postseason.

Wauconda, which has never defeated Grayslake Central in conference play, is benefiting from its competitive games with the Rams.

"This is always a tough place to play. You walk in and you're an underdog," Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said of Grayslake Central. "But the effort was there from us tonight. We fought hard against a really good team and we are really coming together."

Mackenzie Arden came up big for Wauconda. She scored 8 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter. Ella Karg added 11 points for the Bulldogs.

"The first quarter didn't go our way, but we worked hard to get back into the game because we've been wanting to beat (Grayslake Central) for so long," Arden said. "It was a team effort (cutting the deficit). We worked together and it was a lot of different players who helped."

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