Memorable win for Antioch at Grayslake N.
Remembering what team ended its season last year is easy for the Antioch girls basketball team.
Remembering when the program last won a regional isn't.
The Sequoits earned the chance to deal with both issues Wednesday night by rolling past Grayslake North 58-47 in the semifinals of the Grayslake North Class 3A regional.
On Friday in the regional championship, the Sequoits will get another shot at Grayslake Central, the same team that eliminated them from the tournament last season. At the same time, they'll also get the opportunity to make some significant history.
The last time Antioch won a regional in girls basketball was 1987, long before the players on the current roster were even born.
"This is very exciting for our team," said Antioch junior guard Allie Anttila, who scored 11 points and was one of three Sequoits in double figures. "We all really wanted to get here because of the fact that our basketball program hasn't been that great for the past few years. We all wanted it."
The Sequoits got what they were hoping for without much suspense.
Up by 6 points at halftime (28-22), they opened an 11-point lead by the end of the third quarter and then were sitting on a 23-point cushion (55-32) midway through a fourth quarter that started with their 12-2 run.
"The girls knew what was at stake and they were ready," said Antioch coach Tim Borries, whose team improves to 14-13 on the year.
Grayslake North, which rolled up 31 turnovers, closes the books on its season at 7-21.
"We try to make the other team do something with the ball other than stand there, like speed it up, make a quick pass that might get thrown away. We keep the steady pressure on," Borries said. "And 31 turnovers is what happened."
What also happened is that Antioch put together an extremely balanced offensive attack that left Grayslake North guessing.
The Sequiots got points from 9 players, including two others besides Anttila who also finished in double-figures. Freshman guard Lindsey Gofron scored 14 points to tie another freshman - Grayslake North guard Katie McGrath - for game-high scoring honors. And Brittany Deem chipped in 10 points for the Sequoits.
"(Balanced scoring) is very important for us," Anttila said. "We can feed off each other. When one person starts scoring, others start scoring."
Scoring wasn't quite as infectious for the Knights. McGrath and junior forward Lauren Erickson were the only two players to score in the first half for Grayslake North. Not surprisingly, Erickson was the only other player besides McGrath to reach double-figures for the game.
Erickson tallied 12 points and also pulled down 14 rebounds.
"I thought we had great practices leading up to this game," Erickson said. "We started out OK, but then we got shaky and started throwing the ball away. It was a big game and we kind of fell to the pressure.
"But I think we'll be able to come together as a team next year. We'll be quick, we'll have some size. And we're losing only three seniors. We'll be pretty good."