Dixon rings up 28 as Johnsburg tops Antioch

Basketball is a family thing for the Dixons of Johnsburg.

Star shooting guard Mike Dixon, a senior at Johnsburg High School, takes after his dad, who also played at Johnsburg.

Then there's little sister Melissa, a junior scoring machine at Johnsburg. She takes after her brother.

"Nah, her brother takes after her," Johnsburg girls coach Mike Toussaint said with a smile.

Well, Toussaint could make a pretty good argument, particularly after Johnsburg's 59-32 drubbing of Antioch Thursday in the Class 3A regional championship at Lakes High School.

Little sis Dixon pumped in a game-high 28 points and spearheaded a lethal full-court press that forced Antioch into 25 turnovers, 10 in the first quarter alone.

From the start, there was little suspense as to which team was going to advance to next week's St. Viator sectional. Johnsburg, which also got 15 points from guard Danielle Slivka, ended the first quarter up 23-3 and took a crushing 32-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Skyhawks, who returned four starters from a team that won a sectional title last season and lost in the supersectional by just one point, improve to 23-9 overall. They'll face the winner of today's regional championship at Vernon Hills between St. Viator and Wauconda.

"The past two games we've come out with so much energy," said Dixon, who had 17 points on Tuesday as Johnsburg blew out Richmond-Burton 83-28 in its regional opener at Lakes. "We got out right away on them (Richmond-Burton), too. We've just been playing really well together and our press helps us get out right away."

Johnsburg's press had Antioch noticeably flustered.

"They're very fast and their pace was faster than we usually see," said Antioch senior forward Allie Anttila, who had 6 points. "We had a tough time with (the press)."

The times that the Sequoits did manage to get the ball across half-court without getting it stolen, they were so anxious and out of sync that their shots were often way off.

Antioch hit just 9 percent of its shots in the first half.

"We're all really fast and we can read each other really well," said Dixon, explaining the effectiveness of Johnsburg's press. "We've been pressing like this for the last few years and each year it gets stronger and stronger."

Ditto for Dixon herself, who gets stronger and more confident with each passing year she logs against her brother.

She routinely takes on him, and sometimes his friends, in games of one-on-one on the court in the family's yard.

"We work out a lot together," Dixon said of her brother.

So, has she taught him a thing or two?

"Ummmm-I don't know about that," Dixon laughed. "It's more him teaching me. And I've gotten used to playing with his friends, too. Playing against the boys makes me a lot tougher."

Antioch got a bit tougher after halftime.

The Sequoits could have checked out completely after such a rough first half, but they handled the press better, made far fewer mistakes (only 5 turnovers in the third quarter) and even regained their shooting touch a bit.

Senior forward Lauren Grant came off the bench and suddenly got a hot hand for the Sequoits. She hit 3-of-4 third quarter shots for 6 of her team-high 9 points.

"That's a good team. Johnsburg is very good," said Antioch coach Tim Borries, whose team closes out the season at 14-14. "They're very active, they're quick and we were trying to match their pace at first and we made some mistakes.

"When we relaxed in the second half, we played much better. We came out (of halftime) with a lot of heart. We didn't quit. I liked that. We've been down like that before this year, and we just don't quit."