Grayslake Central clinches NLCC title outright; Buchert hits 1,000
Amanda Kocialkowski scored a game-high 15 points to lead four players in double figures, and Grayslake Central's girls basketball team defeated host Round Lake 62-30 on Wednesday night to clinch the Northern Lake County Conference championship outright for the second year in a row.
The Rams improved to 24-3 and 12-0 in the NLCC. They have won 16 games in a row and 32 straight in conference. Grayslake Central shared the NLCC title in the conference's first two seasons of existence (2016-17, 2017-18).
Kate Bullman added 13 points for the Rams, Lauryn Cartee had 12, and MK Drevline chipped in 10.
Areia Williams had 14 points to lead Round Lake (9-19, 5-7).
Libertyville 63, New Trier 36: Margaret Buchert scored her 1,000th career point, and Emily Fisher had a season-high 18 points for the visiting Wildcats in the nonconference game.
Buchert finished with 12 points. Libertyville (22-4) also received 11 points from Marianna Morrissey in winning its 18th game in a row.
"We shot the ball well tonight and had great production from everyone," Wildcats coach Greg Pedersen said.
Wauconda 77, North Chicago 44: Kiley Szmajda and Ella Karg combined for 45 points, and the host Bulldogs cruised in Northern Lake County Conference action.
Szmajda had 23 points and 6 rebounds, while Karg collected 22 points and 10 assists. Morgan Lung added 12 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Jessie Pakaski contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Wauconda improved to 17-6 and 9-3 in the NLCC.
"Morgan is always solid on the boards for us but found her offensive touch tonight," Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said. "Jessie had a nice game. We have asked her to be more aggressive going to the basket and she did that tonight. We had a nice inside-out game going between Ella and Kylie."
Grant 65, Grayslake North 59: The host Bulldogs won the Northern Lake County Conference game on Senior Night.
Seniors Nicolette Kouvelias (7 points), Kaitlyn Flader (7 points, 5 rebounds) and Katelyn Dupree (6 points, 6 rebounds) all had big games. MaCalyn Flores scored 21 points, Jazzlyn Linbo had 13, and Kylie Whyte contributed 6.
Grant improved to 15-12 and 8-4 in the NLCC.
Freshman Peyton Gerdes had a season-high 24 points for Grayslake North (8-20, 3-9), which also had its season-high point total. Jayden Curtis added 11 points.
"Grant just made more shots in the fourth quarter," Knights coach Roger Lass said. "We moved the ball very well against their zone and passed the ball unselfishly to get good shots. We are starting to peak at the right time with regionals coming up."