History for Magrum

FRANKFORT -- Monday was a special evening for Lincoln-Way East High School's Kersten Magrum for a couple of different reasons.

First of all, the Griffin junior became just the second player in her program's history to score 1000 points, joining four-year standout Jenna Rubino, who later played at DePaul University.

And secondly, Magrum's 19 points and seven rebounds helped her team move closer to a conference championship.

The 16-3 Griffins improved to 7-1 in the SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division and took a three-game lead with five games to go after claiming a 58-47 crossover victory over Lockport.

"It was awesome to be able to pull off the same scoring accomplishment as Jenna Rubino," said Magrum. "Jenna was an awesome player and it's great to be mentioned in the same sentence along with her.

"But this is a team sport and no matter what my accomplishments are, the team definitely comes first. We were able to run a lot tonight and people stepped up and finished and that's what we need to do every night."

Magrum moved past the 1000-point mark with 2:47 left in the first half when she converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give her team a 31-17 advantage.

The Griffins used an 8-0 run at the start of the second quarter to help them turn a 12-9 lead into a 20-9 cushion. Magrum and Kelly McGovern each scored three points during that key run.

After Kaitlin Brassil (13 points) hit a three, East received a pair of threes from Theresa Tynski (10 points) and a jumper from Nellie Kosola (13 points) to take a 28-12 lead midway through the period.

"We shot the ball well tonight and we knocked down some shots when we had to," said Griffins coach Jim Martin. "We were banged up after last week, so we did a lot of shooting in practice and got our legs back. But we have to play better defense.

"Kersten joins Jenna as only our second player to get 1000 points and she should break her record eventually. But I don't think that matters to her since she's a team player. She was more excited that we got the win and she wants to win conference."

East led 37-27 at the break but the Porters (13-8, 7-3) hung in the contest, thanks in part to Katie Novak scoring seven of her 16 points in the third quarter.

Lockport got to within 43-36 midway through the period but missed three shots and had a turnover on its next two possessions as the Griffins went on to claim a 49-38 lead with one quarter left.

Despite receiving four free throws from Ashley Shelby (13 points) during the final quarter, the Porters never got closer than 10 points back in the last eight minutes.

Kela Moss chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds for the Griffins, who connected on 23 of their 46 shots from the floor and five of their 12 attempts behind the arc.

"We came out slow," said Porters coach Krista Peterson. "On our first few possessions we didn't execute, and when you're playing from behind, it's a struggle. But we had the opportunities and we just didn't capitalize on them.

"We lost by 11 points and we missed six layups that I can remember, and that would have been the difference right there. But I'm proud of the effort since they fought hard the whole time. But it's just the little things that add up."