McMahon, Lakes breaking new ground
Terese McMahon reached a milestone in Lakes’ regular-season finale, becoming the first girl in school history to score 1,000 points.
The 5-foot-11 senior nearly pulled off another first Tuesday night.
She finished 2 steals shy of the first triple-double in Lakes’ history, as the eighth-seeded Eagles defeated No. 9 Gordon Tech 67-32 in a Class 3A regional final at Lakes.
“We had really good defense on the perimeter tonight,” McMahon said after scoring 19 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and recording 8 steals. “So it was easy for me to slip in there (and get steals). The whole team was great on defense. We had a lot of pressure.”
With the victory, Lakes made team history. The Eagles (17-12) will play for a regional championship for the first time when they host top-seeded Vernon Hills (26-2) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Cougars have defeated the Eagles twice in as many meetings this season (56-41 and 64-39).
Lakes got past Gordon Tech (15-15) without its two starting Amandas.
Tough-luck point guard Amanda Smith tore her right ACL in the Lake Zurich game, ending her season, although the senior will compete in Thursday’s three-point contest. Smith has already had ACL surgery on both knees. Junior forward Amanda Beetschen missed her second straight game with a sprained ankle.
“It stinks,” McMahon said of playing without Smith and Beetschen. “But I think this game we proved that we can have different players step up to the plate, and it’s possible that we can (win).”
One of those players was junior Samantha Ney, who started in place of Smith and scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Ney also had 2 steals and took a charge.
“She played amazing,” McMahon said.
Lakes’ Heather Hurlbut scored 8 points coming off the bench, and Shelby Trkla knocked down two 3s for the Eagles, who led 14-8 after one quarter, 30-17 at halftime and 50-25 after three. Lakes outscored Gordon Tech 20-8 in the third quarter, with Dayna Olson (6 points) getting credit for a basket that a Ram accidentally scored into her own bucket.
It was the most points Lakes scored since it dropped 70 on Harvard at Woodstock before Christmas break.
Jillian Conneely led Gordon Tech with 14 points.
“We played some defense,” Lakes coach Pete Schneider said. “It’s been a long time since we scored 67 points, too.”
McMahon has 1,039 points in her three varsity seasons. She entered last week’s game against Lake Zurich game with 999 points, then scored 21.
“That’s huge,” Schneider said of the milestone for his program. “It’s a great tribute to what she’s done the last three years. She’s done a great job. I’m very proud of her.”