Perfect Prairie finish for Vernon Hills

Vernon Hills’ girls basketball team had plenty to celebrate Saturday.

Sydney Smith knocked down a school-record eight 3-pointers en route to a career-high 26 points, and the Cougars capped an undefeated run through the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division with a 61-46 win over host Lakes.

The victory was the school-record 21st for Vernon Hills (21-4), which finished 12-0 in the NSC Prairie for the first time in its history, dominating its opposition on most nights.

The Cougars’ average margin of victory in their NSC Prairie games was a staggering 31.8, and their 15-point win over Lakes was their closest contest.

“Vernon Hills is a good team and my hat’s off to them for winning the division,” Lakes coach Pete Schneider said. “They have size and, with Smith hitting like that, they are hard to stop.”

Smith shot 8 of 15 from three-point range. The 5-foot-10 sophomore added 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

“She shot lights out and it was hard to answer,” Schneider said. “She had a great shooting night.”

Vernon Hills also got contributions from Meri Bennett-Swanson (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks), Lauren Webb (10 points), Alina Lehocky (6 points, 8 rebounds) and Abby Springer (7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 points, 2 steals, 1 block).

Senior Ashlee Cunningham led Lakes (12-14, 8-4) with 14 points. Junior Terese McMahon had 12 and sophomore Sam Ney tallied 11.

Smith’s five 3s in the second quarter had Vernon Hills up 34-24 at halftime. The visitors led 48-36 after three.

“We played hard and the game was close,” Schneider said. “We missed many easy opportunities in the first half and did not finish when we had the chances.”

Antioch 35, Wauconda 33: The Sequoits won another close one.

Megan Borries sank 2 free throws with 6 seconds left to tie the score at 33-33. Lindsey Gofron then stole the ball and passed to Paige Gallimore under the basket for the game-winning basket with 0.8 seconds left.

Antioch has been involved in a remarkable 11 games decided by four or fewer points and won nine of them. That doesn’t include an overtime victory (49-43) over Grayslake North.

Borries and Gofron combined for 13 of the Sequoits’ 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Antioch (14-12, 9-3), which secured second place in the North Suburban Prairie behind undefeated Vernon Hills, trailed 25-16 after three.

Borries led the visitors with 11 points. Gofron had 7 points and 6 steals, Gallimore finished with 5 points and Brittany Kelly grabbed 5 rebounds.

Wauconda (7-17, 2-10) was led by Diana Enriquez’s game-high 15 points. Lexie Redmann and Haley Kramer each had 6.

Stevenson 58, Mundelein 24: Senior center Julia Dabrowski scored a season-high 15 points, leading the visiting Patriots to victory in their North Suburban Lake finale.

Freshman Sophia Way, making her first start, added a season-high 10 points, and Kari Moffat scored 9 for Stevenson (20-7, 9-3), which hit 20 wins for the third straight season under coach Tom Dineen.

The Patriots also got 7 and 6 points, respectively, from Hayley Arenson and Paige Freudenberg. Alex Elzinga had 6 as well.

Stevenson and Libertyville finished in a tie for first place in the NSC Lake. But Libertyville will represent the division in the conference championship game Wednesday night at Vernon Hills by virtue of beating the Patriots in each of the teams’ two meetings against each other.

Stevenson freshman Taylor Buford missed her second straight game with a knee injury. Dineen said his team hopes to have her back for the regional.

Mundelein (10-18, 2-10) was led by Amanda Davis’ 9 points, which included a 3-pointer.

Grayslake Central 38, Woodstock North 25: The host Rams, who have clinched the Fox Valley Fox, moved one step closer to completing an undefeated run through the division.

Skyler Jessop, Claire Brennan and Michelle Lettenmair each scored 8 points for Grayslake Central (22-4, 11-0), which led 14-8 after one quarter, 24-14 at halftime and 35-18 after three.

The Rams, who host Grayslake North on Tuesday, have won six straight.

Grayslake North 47, Crystal Lake Central 25: Kendall Detweiler scored 14 points, knocking down a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers, and the Knights won their fourth in a row.

Grayslake North (19-7, 8-3) had 18 baskets on 17 assists, including 6 by Jordyn Bowen.

Joanna Guhl added 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Marist 48, Carmel 31: The East Suburban Catholic home loss dropped the Corsairs to 15-12 and 3-5 in the conference.