Vernon Hills' new look wears well

Vernon Hills' girls basketball fans won't forget the careers of Sydney Smith and Lauren Webb.

Opponents shouldn't forgot that, despite the graduation of the two Division-I players, the Cougars still have a good team.

They pushed their record to 2-0 Thursday night by crushing Glenbrook North 65-36 in the sixth annual Cougar Classic in Vernon Hills.

"Yeah, we lost Sid and Lauren," Monica Bahlmann said. "But we're still amazing."

The 5-foot-10 Bahlmann led the way against Glenbrook North (0-2). She scored a career-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor, displaying a soft touch around the basket.

"Mia (Polisky) and I did a little high-low action," Bahlmann said. "She would go short corner by the basket, and then I would be right in the middle of the paint. She was a big help with that, and the rest of my teammates were too."

Polisky and Kasey Firnbach added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Vernon Hills. At halftime, the Cougars were on pace to score 86.

"We all work really well together," said Firnbach, the Cougars' returning all-conference forward, who added 6 rebounds and 3 assists. "There's seven of us seniors and a lot of juniors and sophomores. We've all been playing with each other since feeder and younger levels. We just click."

That was evident early, as the Cougars used a full-court press to jump out to a 9-2 lead three minutes into the game. When Firnbach scored on a putback to beat the first-quarter buzzer, the advantage was 19-7. Seven Cougars scored in the opening quarter.

They kept pressing and scoring in the second quarter, hitting 9 of 14 shots to go into halftime up 43-20. Vernon Hills beat the buzzer again, as Kristen Guglielmi's steal led to layup by Katie Burrows.

For the second game in a row, Vernon Hills didn't look like a team trying to find points, considering Smith (Vermont) and Webb (Bowling Green) combined for more than 2,800 points in their four-year varsity careers.

"Our goals are still high," said Firnbach, who scored a career-best 26 points in an opening-night, 67-45 win over Maine East. "Even though we lost them, and they were really great players, we still can't lower our goals. I hope people will see how much teamwork we still have."

Vernon Hills played without returning senior Katie Brettmann, who started against Maine East. She rolled her ankle in practice Wednesday.

"Definitely the ankle. Nothing else," Cougars coach Paul Brettner said. "Hopefully a mild strain or sprain."

Ten players scored for Vernon Hills, which was up 56-26 after three quarters.

"So far, I think we look like we need to," Brettner said. "They're a good group of kids - hopefully pretty deep - that can play unselfishly, look for the next pass and play good defense. We're trying to harp on the defense and rebounding things early."