Wauconda lets its game do the talking at Antioch

During winter break, a leak in a washroom near Antioch's main gym flooded parts of the floor, meaning varsity basketball games will be played in the high school's old south gym until further notice.

Playing in a cozier confines Tuesday night didn't matter to Wauconda's girls, who slipped past the home school, so to speak.

While the host Sequoits couldn't buy a home bounce, the Bulldogs looked more comfortable as the North Suburban Prairie Division game moved along. Wauconda opened a double-digit lead in the second half and hung on for a 44-35 win.

Was there a difference playing in Antioch's other gym?

"Nah," Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said. "A gym's a gym. It's got two hoops."

There is at least one noticeable difference in the two gymnasiums.

"It's loud in here," Dennis observed. "That's the one disadvantage."

Maybe it wasn't such a disadvantage after all for the Bulldogs.

"I think the loudness kind of excited us and made us play really hard," sophomore center Erinn Hellweg said.

Hellweg would know. She was instrumental in Wauconda's big second half, coming off the bench to score 9 of her team-high 11 points. The 6-footer scored twice on offensive rebounds, and her right-wing jumper early in the fourth quarter extended the visitors' lead to 33-22.

Wauconda (10-4, 4-1) outscored Antioch (5-9, 2-2) by a 15-6 margin in the third, after the teams went into halftime tied 16-16.

"The second half was outstanding," Dennis said. "The first half we had 15 turnovers and allowed 10 offensive rebounds. We just weren't doing our job. The things we had talked about before the game we didn't quite do in the first quarter. We came on strong the second half."

Added Hellweg: "The third quarter was probably our best this year. We came out after halftime and we wanted this win. We just pushed as hard as we could, played hard defense and took it to the hoop."

Antioch's Lauren Tiffany (8 points, 9 rebounds) opened the game with a 3-pointer and a bucket in the lane, but the Sequoits struggled from the floor for three quarters.

They shot 4 of 19 in the first quarter, 3 of 17 in the second and 2 of 9 in the third.

"That," coach Tim Borries said of his team's combined 20-percent shooting through three quarters, "and we got outrebounded by a larger margin than I want.

"Just a poor shooting night."

Andi Potkonjak led Antioch with 10 points, but the high-scoring guard had only 2 entering the fourth. Allie Anttila added 9 points and 4 steals.

Potkonjak scored on back-to-back drives midway through the fourth to pull the Sequoits within 35-28. But the Bulldogs hit enough free throws down the stretch - including three by Kate Martino and a pair by Rosyln Summerville - to prevail.

Diana Enriquez (10 points) was Wauconda's only other double-digit scorer. Martino had 8 assists, 7 steals, 5 points and 5 rebounds.

"The nice thing about this team is, we have multiple contributors," Dennis said. "We have a lot of weapons."

"Holding this team to 44 points," Borries said, "that's one of our better defensive games we've played."