Lakes stays locked in, eliminates Antioch
Even before twins Amy and Ashley Reiser led Antioch's girls basketball team to 12 wins in the state tournament in four seasons, the Sequoits experienced postseason success.
Antioch went to five regional finals from 2009-2013 (pre-Reisers), albeit no further.
Wearing their road blacks on their home court Tuesday night, the Sequoits were looking to stretch their streak of nine straight seasons of at least one postseason win.
But then, they were playing crosstown rival Lakes, which has had Sequoits' number this season.
The Eagles did again.
Lakes, seeded seventh in the Class 3A Woodstock North sectional, broke open a tight game midway through the second quarter en route to a 50-38 win in the teams' regional semifinal at Antioch.
Lakes (15-16) beat No. 9 Antioch (11-17) for the third time in as many tries this season in advancing to Thursday's 7 p.m. championship game against No. 2 Vernon Hills (18-10).
Sara Smith led Lakes with 13 points, Kylie Jozwik added 12 on four 3-pointers, and Paule Ceneac had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds as well as 3 blocks. Mia Edwards scored 8 points.
"Staying together as a team and being connected on defense," Smith said of the key to beating small-but-scrappy Antioch again. "We help each other out if we lose our girl. Just keeping up our energy (was important)."
Faith Miller's long jumper gave Antioch a 12-11 lead with 4:45 left in the second quarter. But a pair of free throws by the 6-foot-1 Ceneac gave Lakes the lead, and the Eagles closed the half with a 16-2 run to take a 27-14 advantage into the half. Jozwik went 3 of 3 from three-point range during the run.
"We had a big (height) advantage on them," said Smith, who sank a 3-pointer and went 6 of 7 from the foul line. "We're a lot taller and we were able to (kick the ball) out and it swing it around for our 3-pointers."
Lakes outscored Antioch 23-6 in the second quarter, forcing 7 turnovers.
"Great second quarter," Lakes coach Brian Phelan said. "I thought we started running some more of our aggressive defense. We got into some of our traps, and that got the energy going."
Kaitlynn Stay came off the bench to lead Antioch in scoring with 11 points, sinking three 3-pointers in the second half. Rachel Phillips had 10 points for the Sequoits.