Vernon Hills takes it to Lakes
Vernon Hills’ girls basketball team remained undefeated after earning a 56-41 victory over host Lakes on Monday in North Suburban Prairie action.
Sydney Smith had 13 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals for the Cougars, who improved to 13-0 overall and 6-0 in the NSC Prairie.
Meri Bennett-Swanson delivered 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks, and Lauren Webb had a team-best 15 points for the winners.
Lakes (8-6, 3-2) was led by Heather Hurlbut with 14 points. Amanda Smith and Terese McMahon each had 7 points.
The Eagles led 20-18 at halftime and trailed by only four after three quarters. But Vernon Hills then scored 23 points over the final eight minutes.
“The score is not indicative of how hard-fought this game was,” Lakes coach Pete Schneider said. “(Vernon Hills) proved to be too big for us in the fourth quarter. John Wooden always said if he had a choice between speed and height, he would take height because it never gets slower or tires. Vernon Hills’ size wore us down.
“My kids played hard and we will continue to improve,” Schneider added. “I am very happy with how these kids have responded to all challenges and we are going to be fine. It is finals week and that takes a little toll on the kids. Vernon Hills has a lot of big kids that know how to play. They use their bodies well and play physical. (Coach) Paul (Brettner) always has them ready.”
Antioch 47, Wauconda 34: Alex Fracek grabbed a career-best 20 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass, and scored 8 points, and Paige Gallimore tallied a game-high 17 points and collected 11 rebounds for her first career double-double for the host Sequoits in North Suburban Prairie action.
Megan Borries added 7 points for Antioch (10-4, 5-1), which won for the sixth time in seven games.
Lauren Nee had 14 points to lead Wauconda (4-9, 1-5).
“The girls played really well and challenged Antioch,” Wauconda coach Jamie Dennis said. “We changed our defense at halftime and went a triangle and two on No. 3 (Borries) and No. 23 (Gallimore). I put (Natalie) Harding and (Jessie) Wood on them and they held them scoreless in the third. We did exactly what we wanted to do defensively but came up short on the offensive end. And we just ran out of gas in the fourth. Lauren Nee played another amazing game for us, both offensively and defensively. She really is the heart and soul of our team.”