Coy, Vernon Hills get their birthday wishes

Never mind the holidays and another come-from-behind win Wednesday night.

Vernon Hills' girls basketball team has plenty of other reasons to celebrate.

Senior guard Alana Coy celebrated her 18th birthday Wednesday and put together another solid all-around game in the Cougars' 51-44 win over host Wauconda.

Today, Coy's backcourt partner, fellow senior Jessica Feece, turns 18. It's junior forward Becca Feld's birthday today, too.

"We're having a pasta party at my house," Feece said. "We're going to celebrate."

Wauconda was nearly the party pooper, leading 30-20 at halftime and in position to hand Vernon Hills its first loss.

Instead, the Cougars held the Bulldogs to 7 points in both the third and fourth quarters and executed down the stretch to improve to 8-0 and 4-0 in the North Suburban Prairie Division.

Talk about reason to celebrate. The Cougars started 1-7 last season and finished 14-15.

"It's a really good group," coach Paul Brettner said. "We can defend ... and sometimes we can put the ball in the hole."

The Cougars had a problem with both in the first half. Wauconda (4-3, 2-1), meanwhile, put together what coach Jaime Dennis called a "great" 16 minutes. Melanie Prudhomme scored 10 of her game- and season-high 12 points in the first half, hitting five midrange jumpers, and Kate Martino netted 7 of her 11 points, including a 3-pointer.

Prudhomme even hit a 3 that came a split-second after the buzzer sounded.

"The best half of basketball I've seen in a long time," Dennis said. "Defensively, offensively, we executed to a T."

But Wauconda turned the ball over five times in the third quarter, after committing just 3 turnovers in the first half, and entered the fourth leading only 37-33.

"We just lost our composure," Dennis said. "(Vernon Hills) picked up the pressure a little bit and we didn't respond."

Brettner talked to his team at halftime about continuing to play hard and chip away at its deficit. The Cougars also faced a 10-point deficit against Antioch last week.

"And I was hoping that if we could get in (Wauconda's) face just a little that they might cool off," Brettner said, "because they were on fire."

Vernon Hills scored the first 10 points of the fourth, with 6-foot-2 freshman Meri Bennett-Swanson showing off a deft hook shot and scoring half of her game-high 14 points in the quarter.

Wauconda struggled against Vernon Hills' combination triangle zone and man-to-man defense, missing its first seven shots in the fourth.

"I think we came alive in the second half," said Feece, who sank the front end of 1-and-1's three times in the fourth. "The first half was really slow, but that second half we just came out fired up."

Coy (12 points, two 3s) and Jessica Schwartz (11 points, 6 rebounds) also scored in double figures for Vernon Hills. Coy added 5 steals, 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Feece finished with 9 points (7 of 8 from the foul line) and 6 boards. Bennett-Swanson added 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

"They're a lot like we were last year - confident, never-say-die attitude," said Dennis, whose Bulldogs won 21 games last season. "They're playing extremely well. They're all clicking. He's got a good group."