Lake Forest gives Antioch another hard lesson
Every good team goes through peaks and valleys during the course of a season.
Right now, the Antioch girls basketball team is experiencing the latter as we enter the final month before playoff time.
After rolling off 16 wins in a row to start the campaign, Antioch has dropped three of its last four, including a 61-55 decision to Lake Forest in the finale of the Martin Luther King tournament held on Monday afternoon in Lake Forest.
"This is a challenge and is definitely an adventure," said Sequoits coach Tim Borries, who saw his girls go 1-3 in the event and fall to 19-4 overall. "We care enough about having another great season, but we have to learn from our mistakes. As long as they are learning means they understand, which means we can fix it."
The 'it' part is what has Borries and the girls perplexed.
"I think we need to communicate a lot better, especially on the defensive end," said junior guard Ashley Reiser, who scored 12 points to go along with 6 boards against the Scouts. "We're just in a little funk right now but as long as we can learn from our losses."
With the exception of two occasions, Antioch had held the lead for most of the first half against Lake Forest.
Senior guard Alexis Duehr poured in 11 of her team-high 13 points, including 3 treys, during the first 16 minutes. Reiser also lit it up from behind the arc, converting on 3 treys of her own as Antioch held a 36-35 halftime advantage.
In the first minute of the third quarter, Antioch went ahead 40-35 after a layup by senior forward Kelly Johnson, who netted 8 points in the losing cause. And just it looked like the Sequoits would pull away, as they have numerous times this year, Lake Forest had an answer.
Two possessions later, Tori Salanty drilled a 3 and all of a sudden we had a tie game at 40 with 6:27 left in the third quarter. Lake Forest used that momentum to go on an 8-3 run that was capped by a trey from junior guard Delaney Williams and gave the hosts a 48-43 lead. Williams and Salanty shared game-high scoring honors with 17 points.
A layup by senior center Maddy Murillo (11 points, 7 rebounds) pulled the Sequoits to within a point (48-47) heading to the fourth, where it was anyone's game.
"We just kept packing it in on defense," said Scouts coach and former Mundelein High standout Kyle Wilhelm, whose team improved to 8-13 overall. "We're a healthier team now and young, but it's fun to see the maturity of everyone stepping up."
Scouts sophomore guard Olivia Douglass hit 2 free throws to open the fourth but Reiser's 3-point play soon after knotted things up again 50-50 with 6:24 left in regulation.
However, Salanty hit her fourth and final trey of the game to give the Scouts the lead at 55-50 with 5:05 left.
"We we're forcing shots, and a lot of times down the floor it was one shot and done for us," noted Borries. "And we weren't in position to help."
Junior guard Erika Gallimore (8 points) hit 1 of 2 free throws to draw Antioch to within 55-53 with 3:03 left. But Lake Forest's tight defense and converting on 3 of 4 free throws in the last minute helped preserve the upset.
Antioch was just 6 of 15 on free throws, an area that could use some improvement.
"We need to get back to playing as a team and stop forcing things too much," said Sequoits junior guard Danielle Tebbe.
• Earlier in the day, Antioch outscored Deerfield 12-6 in the third period to help erase a halftime deficit and pull away for a 56-47 victory. Maddy Murillo had her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Duehr added 11 points and 8 boards, while Ashley Reiser chipped in 12 points and Gallimore had 8 points and 8 rebounds.
It was the first game back for Johnson, who had missed the previous three due to illness. The Sequoits have also sorely missed junior guard Amy Reiser, who is still sidelined with back problems.