RL deflates big Wauconda crowd

Jaime Weber noticed something unusual when she walked into her team's home gym Thursday night.

Lots of people - people who don't always attend Wauconda girls basketball games.

"It was like a who's who of Wauconda in there," the first-year coach and Wauconda alumnus said. "Just everybody from town - old faces from when I was in school, friends, family. The girls had a bunch of people here.

"And this was the first game we've had a student crowd. They were boisterous and got into the game. It was definitely nice to see. The girls deserve it. They've earned it."

The Bulldogs nearly earned a victory, too. But behind Labrenthia Murdock's game-high 20 points and some clutch foul shooting in the fourth quarter, Round Lake won 45-42 in an intense battle between the last two North Suburban Prairie teams without a divisional loss.

Round Lake, seeking its first NSC Prairie title since 2001, improved to 14-2 overall and 6-0 in the division. Wauconda, which got 14 points from Kate Martino and a double-double from Lauren Mead (10 points, 14 rebounds), fell to 13-2 and 5-1.

"I thought that was our best effort all year," Weber said. "We played three hard quarters. We've played two hard quarters and still won games. I had told them before the game that we had to play a full game this time."

The killer quarter for Wauconda was the third, when it failed to make a field goal (0-of-8 shooting, 6 turnovers).

Round Lake was fired up after watching Wauconda use a 10-0 run during the second quarter to build a 22-14 lead. A running hook shot by the 5-foot-4 Martino was a highlight during the spurt.

A free throw by Murdock with a second left in the half got the Panthers within 22-15.

"We played terrible in the second quarter," Murdock said. "We kept turning the ball over (9 turnovers). Our coach came and yelled at us in the locker room and then we just came out and played really hard, got our shots up and got stops. We played defense and got on the boards, because we weren't rebounding really well in the first half, either."

Murdock scored 6 points and Ashley Miller got all 5 of hers in the third, as the Panthers outscored the Bulldogs 16-6.

Round Lake led by as many as 8 in the fourth, with Murdock going 5 of 6 from the line. Stephanie Infante (9 points) and Amber Phillips (7 points, 9 rebounds) also hit big free throws.

Phillips blocked a 3-point attempt by Mead just before the buzzer sounded to seal the win.

"I thought Labrenthia played very hard," Round Lake coach Gary Edge said. "Anybody that stepped on the floor for us gave a great effort."