Zion-Benton removes Antioch from the unbeaten ranks

It won't be a perfect regular season, but it's still shaping up to be a pretty darn good one for the Antioch girls basketball team.

Up until Wednesday evening, the Sequoits and coach Tim Borries were unbeaten, and seemingly untouchable.

But then along came Zion-Benton, who promptly knocked the visiting Sequoits off of their perch with a 59-40 victory in a North Suburban Conference divisional crossover.

It was Antioch's first loss in 17 games, something Borries and the girls are looking to put behind them quickly.

"I'll still take a 16-1 start to the season any time," the coach said. "We played hard but couldn't stop them (Zion) in the lane. And we struggled to get our shots off."

It was a nip-and-tuck first quarter as Antioch junior guard Erika Gallimore popped in 6 of her 10 points, while junior guard Ashley Reiser added 4 as the Sequoits trailed 14-13 after the opening act.

Gallimore's free throw tied things up at 14-14 early in the second. But Zion-Benton (12-5) showed patience and continued banging the ball inside. The Zee-Bees promptly answered the Gallimore free throw when senior guard Krystal Walker hit a layup to give the hosts the lead in what turned out to be for good at 16-14 with 7:20 left before halftime.

Zion-Benton senior guard Marquitta Easley, who filled it up in the first by scoring 9 of her game-high 22 points, had 5 during the second stanza, as did Walker, who complemented her with 19 points on the evening.

Antioch played catch-up from that point on and just couldn't get over the hump like they usually have in the past.

"We didn't come out as prepared as we needed to be," said Reiser, who led the Sequoits with 12 points to accompany 5 boards. "We kept letting them get in the lane and they pounded it inside. We lost our composure a little bit, but we'll learn from this and make adjustments for our next game (at Grant Saturday)."

Sequoits sophomore guard Taylor Feltner (9 points) provided a spark at the end of the first half by hitting a layup and then a 3, and it was a tight ballgame as Antioch trailed 26-23.

But just when you thought that momentum was going to carry over into the second half, there was Zion-Benton to deny the Sequoits from getting any closer than 5 points the rest of the way.

The third quarter was huge for Zion-Benton, which denied Antioch from getting the ball inside to Gallimore and senior forward Kelly Johnson.

Zion's defense forced 7 turnovers in that third frame and the closest the Sequoits got was 32-27 after a layup by Reiser. Zion answered right back with a 9-3 spurt to end the period and stretch the lead to 41-30.

Walker went nuts in the fourth, scoring 8, while Easley added 6 for the Zee-Bees (12-5).

Antioch was playing a bit short-handed, with starting guard Amy Reiser sidelined now for four of the last five games with back problems. Senior center Madalyn Murillo has also been on the shelf with a high ankle sprain and has missed the last five games. Borries isn't sure when both would be back in action.

"The big silver lining tonight is that we're learning to play together," said Borries. "If a loss makes us better and prepares us for the end of the season when it really matters, then this was a good loss."

The Sequoits, normally pretty good from behind the arc, shot just 4-for-24 from 3-point range.

Zion-Benton coach Tanya Johnson was honored before the game for winning her 700th game earlier in the week.