Cary Girls' Finish Regular Season With 11th Straight Win

It was billed as the Fox Valley Conference championship game between Valley Division champion Cary-Grove and Fox Division winner Grayslake Central.

The game lived up to the expectations and more as the two teams battled into the final minutes before the Trojans prevailed 51-44 at Grayslake.

Cary (24-3) fell behind early before going on an 8-0 run to take a 8-4 lead in the game’s first four minutes. The Rams countered with a 11-2 run of their own and took a 15-10 lead into the second quarter. Grayslake Central would continue to control play in their field house for most of the quarter before Cary scored the final five points of the half to pull within 27-25 at the break.

After Cary tied the game at 29, Central went on a quick 5-0 run to seize control back before another 7-2 run by Cary tied the game again at 36. Cary would take the lead behind an 11-point third quarter by Claire Jakubicek and led 40-38 going into the final eight minutes.

Central would keep it close, trailing by just three at 5:43 to play but the Trojans would score eight of the game’s last 12 points to pull away to get the win in each team’s final regular season game.

Cary coach Rod Saffert said that the whole team is not happy with their performance in the first half.

“They were obviously disappointed about the first half but the silver lining was we were getting the shots and just not hitting them,” Saffert said. “We allowed them to get too many offensive rebounds, some in a flurry. The goal in the second half was to take some charges and out rebound them, which we did. They are a good team.”

Saffert added it was a game that will help down the road in the postseason.

“Before the season starts, my scheduler came to me and said you need another game because you are going to have 10 days off before regionals. I had heard Grayslake Central was going to be pretty good so I said give me Grayslake Central and ironically it turned out to be what it was,” Saffert said. “It was a perfect game to have going into regionals.”

Jakubicek finished with 25 points to lead Cary and said that it was a tale of two different halves of play.

“The first half was frustrating because we knew what we needed to do and things weren’t flowing and clicking the way we wanted to,” Jakubicek said. “In the second half, we wanted to win so bad. We were preparing for this game for a long time and we came in the second half wanting to win and get things done. Everyone worked so hard and together. It was great.”

Cary-Grove will take their 11-game winning streak into the IHSA Class 4A Dundee-Crown Regional on Tuesday night where the top-seeded Trojans will play either No. 4 seed Larkin or fifth-seeded Elgin at 6 p.m. in Carpentersville.