Vernon Hills gets back in winning groove

Some light housekeeping was required of the Vernon Hills girls basketball team on Saturday afternoon.

Dust needed to be wiped off, cobwebs needed to be brushed away.

This is what happens when a team hasn't played since last year.

OK, technically, the Cougars haven't played a game since December of 2014. So they've been off just a couple of weeks.

But that mid-season layoff, long by most standards, had Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner wondering just what he was going to get out of his team at Grant.

"We were supposed to play Mundelein on Wednesday but that got cancelled because of the cold," Brettner said. "So we've had a long layoff, since Dec. 27.

"You never know what you're going to get with something like this. It's been a very goofy schedule. You just hope you get out there and play well enough to get a win."

The Cougars did that, and then some. They jumped out on Grant early and kept adding to their lead en route to a 65-40 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory.

Vernon Hills moves to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in Prairie Division play.

"It was hard because we started off a little shaky. We haven't played in a while," said Vernon Hills sophomore guard Becky Bahlmann, who scored a game-high 13 points. "At halftime, we talked in the locker room about how we needed to pick up our pace. We all stepped up."

Vernon Hills, up 31-24 at halftime, wasted no time in the third quarter, and immediately began to pull away. The Cougars opened with a 6-0 run and outscored Grant 19-6 on the quarter.

Kasey Firnbach was active on the offensive end for Vernon Hills. She scored 7 of her 10 points in the third quarter.

"We played better defense with more discipline and less reaching and we boxed out. Our defense was a little bit better (in the third quarter)," Brettner said.

Vernon Hills also got double-figures out of point guard Haley Lieberman.

Grant's only player in double-figures was Jasmine Sangster, who came off the bench to score 10 points on 2 three-pointers. Point guard McKaylie Krey did score 9 points for the Bulldogs, who are still missing 6-foot-3 starting center Taylor Drake. She missed an extended period of time earlier this season for personal and family reasons and is trying to make up schoolwork so that she can get back on the court.

"It's really tough (without Drake)," Krey said. "But I think we're doing OK. We're getting better. I feel like we are going to get some more wins."