Jarrell, Caudle power Vernon Hills' victory

Daniella Jarrell is just a Vernon Hills freshman, but she was playing like a seasoned veteran in the third quarter Tuesday afternoon.

Jarrell used the ball-off-the-back play, sending an inbounds pass to herself to get a bucket. The play helped her to a career-best and game-high 25 points as the Cougars rolled past Indianapolis (Ind.) 78-56 on Tuesday in a first-round game in Libertyville's tournament.

"We have a play called 'Pippen,' " Jarrell said. "If you're out of bounds and the other players are not looking at it, you just hit it off of them and go for the layup if it's open."

Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen successfully ran the play several times in his standout career.

"During practice, we run that a lot," Jarrell said. "It's a good play that our coach came up with. When we execute it, it works well."

Kayla Caudle dropped in a season-best 24 points with 18 rebounds, 4 steals and a couple of blocked shots, while Kylie Bunning had 14 points and Nicole Pieper chipped in with 10 for Vernon Hills.

"That was our goal, to play as hard as we can, because we didn't know what we were up against," Caudle said. "The team helps me tremendously. If I have the ball and I'm guarded by three players, there's always going to be someone else open. I'm always working with our key shooters."

Indianapolis (12-2) is a team of home-schooled players. The Blazers play a schedule against mostly other home-schooled teams.

The Cougars (9-4, 1-0) got off to a quick start, with Jarrell and Caudle scoring 8 points apiece in the opening quarter as Vernon Hills led 25-14 going into the second quarter.

The Blazers cut the lead down to 2 at 34-32 on a 3 from Jenna Blakely (12 points) with 2:42 left. Vernon Hills responded with a 6-1 spurt and led 40-33 at the break.

"(Vernon Hills) had a good team," Indianapolis coach Tim Jenson said. "We did fall behind early, but we did come back at them. When (Caudle) was in the game, that was the difference."

The Blazers started the third quarter with four straight points as Gloria Brewer (20 points) hit a layup and Blakley added a short jumper to make it 40-37 in Vernon Hills' favor with 6:18 left in the third quarter.

The Cougars applied some pressure and got a few turnovers, which led to a 13-0 run. A Caudle jumper capped the spurt for a 53-37 Cougars lead with 3:30 left. Vernon Hills held a 60-50 advantage by the quarter's end.

"We had a little separation - that helped us a lot," Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner said. "We didn't know what to expect, having two days off before a holiday tournament. It was a good win going against a good team like this one, with no scouting information."

Vernon Hills was able to keep its lead in double digits the rest of the way.

Indianapolis next meets Libertyville at 10 a.m. Wednesday, while Vernon Hills plays Streamwood at 11:30 a.m. in Libertyville's West gym.