Victorious Vernon Hills looking even better

Six losses in eight games hurt only the Vernon Hills girls basketball team's once-spotless won-lost record.

The Cougars remain undefeated in the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division and alone in first place after staving off a furious rally by visiting Antioch to secure a 54-47 win Thursday night. And, the Cougars might have actually improved in recent weeks, despite their recent struggles.

"It made us better," coach Paul Brettner said, specifically, of a 1-4 showing in Mundelein's holiday tournament. Vernon Hills had started the season 9-0. "It showed our weaknesses. It really gave us something to look at for the second half of the season."

One weakness for the Cougars, according to junior forward Jessica Schwartz, was slow starts. Vernon Hills (12-6, 7-0) had no such issue with that against Antioch (7-10, 3-3).

Jessica Feece drained a 3-pointer to start the game, and later a putback by a hustling Ikie Ostrovsky had the home team up 12-2. The Cougars led 20-13 after one quarter.

"We've been coming out slow and we've had to play catch-up," said Schwartz, who in her first game since recovering from strep throat came off the bench to score 8 points and grab 7 rebounds. "But tonight we came out really strong."

Hot shooting propelled the Cougars in the first half, as they shot 9 of 14 in the first quarter and 7 of 13 in the second. They led by as many as 18 points (35-17), sinking five 3s, including a pair by both Feece and Abby Springer (10 points).

Vernon Hills led 37-22 at halftime.

"Too many games we get down 17, 15," Sequoits coach Tim Borries said. "The girls got to realize that if you come out playing like you're down 17 or 15 points, then you won't be down 17 or 15 points."

Andi Potkonjak scored 8 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, as she and Allie Anttila finally got Antioch going. Anttila's layup pulled the Sequoits within 45-44 with 4:47 left.

Anttila had missed most of the middle quarters after injuring her ankle. She scored half of her 8 points in the fourth.

"I completely didn't even think about the pain or anything," Anttila said. "It wasn't that bad. I wanted to play. I like to play."

Freshman center Meri Bennett-Swanson, who led Vernon Hills with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, scored on a putback that hiked the Cougars' lead to 47-44 with 4:37 to go. Nicole Kelly got Antioch within three again a minute later, but the Sequoits didn't sink another shot from the floor. Vernon Hills finished the game with a 5-1 run.

"That's our one problem," Anttila said. "We need to finish games."

"(Antioch) has really good, athletic players," Brettner said. "We've been talking about playing tough defense, and I think we picked it up a little bit at the end."

Potkonjak added 5 steals, while fellow Sequoits guard Lindsey Gofron had six. Jessica Ploss pulled down 10 rebounds.

For Vernon Hills, Feece finished with 6 points, 5 assists and 6 rebounds. Alana Coy chipped in 7 points, including a 3.

"I think we're on a high," Schwartz said. "We just have to keep going."

"Paul has those girls playing well," Borries said. "They set great screens. They're hard to get through. We just got to be a little more physical on defense."