Daily Chronicle sports roundup for Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023

The DeKalb-Sycamore boys swimming team earned its second straight sectional title Saturday thanks in part to the effort of Jacob Gramer.

The junior qualified for the IHSA State Swimming and Diving Meet in two individual events and helped 200-yard freestyle relay team also advance from the Rockford Jefferson Sectional.

Gramer teamed up with Noah Johnson, Max Palacios and Calvin VanderSchee to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1 minute, 29.03 seconds.

Individually, Gramer (21.55 seconds) narrowly beat out Harlem’s Jeremy Mueller (21.65) in the 50 freestyle to win the sectional title. Gramer took third in the 100 freestyle (47.61 seconds), but advanced by beating the state-qualifying time.

DeKalb-Sycamore won the sectional’s team title with 230 points, well ahead of second-place Hononegah (201.5).

The state meet will be held at FMC Natatorium in Westmont with preliminaries Friday, followed by finals Saturday.

Boys basketball

Genoa-Kingston 50, Aurora Central Catholic 39: At Genoa, the Cogs took down 10th-seeded Aurora Central Catholic in a Class 2A Genoa-Kingston Regional quarterfinal. Josh Bunting provided No. 9 seed G-K with a game-high 14 points, and Traven Atterberry scored 12.

The Cogs move on to face Rockford Christian, the sub-sectional’s top seed, in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Durand 61, Hiawatha 45: At Durand, the 14th-seeded Hawks saw their season come to a close against third-seeded Durand in a Class 1A South Beloit Regional quarterfinal loss.

Ashton-Franklin Center 72, Indian Creek 56: At Ashton, the 11th-seeded Timberwolves fell in quarterfinal action to the eighth-seeded Raiders in a Class 1A Ashton-Franklin Center Regional quarterfinal.

Girls bowling

IHSA State Tournament: At the Cherry Bowl in Rockford, Kaneland sophomore Emma Pernice finished the two-day state tournament in 62nd place. Pernice rolled series of 572 (198-171-203) and 503 (188-169-146) Saturday to finish with a two-day total of 2,206.

St. Charles East senior Lida Burgos took the individual state championship with 2,763 grand total. In the team competition, Lockport (11,975 pins) edged Joliet West (11,942) for the title.

Women’s basketball

NIU 84, Ball State 77: At DeKalb, the Huskies put together a strong fourth quarter and took down Mid-American Conference leader Ball State after watching a 14-point halftime lead evaporate in the third quarter.

NIU (14-11, 6-8) briefly fell behind late in the third, but retook control with an 8-0 run early in the fourth. Chelby Koker provided five points during the run en route to a game-high 25 points.

The Huskies connected on 10-of-19 3-point attempts, including five by Koker and four more from Sidney McCrea, who finished with 14 points.

DeKalb graduate A’Jah Davis piled up 17 points and 15 rebounds in the win over the Cardinals, who fell into a three-way tie atop the MAC with Toledo and Bowling Green.

Men’s basketball

Miami (OH) 66, NIU 65 (OT): At DeKalb, the Huskies (11-16, 7-7) went into halftime with a 10-point lead, but fell to the RedHawks (9-18, 3-11) in MAC play.

Anthony Crump had team highs in points (17) and rebounds (11) to lead NIU, which never trailed until Miami took a 64-62 lead with 1:14 remaining in overtime.

Zarique Nutter provided the Huskies with 16 points, while Darweshi Hunter had 14 points and seven rebounds.