Grant progresses quickly in victory over Vernon Hills
Learning how to play consistently for 32 minutes seems to be the common goal shared by both the Vernon Hills and Grant girls basketball teams.
On Friday evening in Fox Lake, though, the host Bulldogs that did just a little bit more of that in pulling out a 50-45 North Suburban Prairie victory.
After starting the season 0-2, the victory was Grant's seventh in a row and moved them to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the division.
"Definitely a big game and we'll celebrate, but we stay cool for the most part. It's back to work and trying to take care of business tomorrow," said Grant freshman guard Ally Mahinay. "We really played well as a team in the second half. We picked it up more on the defensive end."
Mahinay had a big third quarter, during which she scored 8 of her 16 points, including a nifty layup that broke a 30-all deadlock to put the Bulldogs up for good at 32-30 with 1:18 left in the frame.
Grant leading scorer and senior guard Jasmine Sangster had hit a 3-pointer prior to that to tie the game at 30-30 with 1:40 left.
Up until that point, the teams had traded blows to the tune of six lead changes and four ties.
But Mahinay's bucket started a 10-3 run that culminated with a layup by junior guard Ameerah Muhammad (4 points) that stretched the lead to 40-33 with 5:26 remaining in regulation.
"We showed flashes of playing with consistency, especially in the second half," said Grant coach Kathie Swanson, whose team travels to North Chicago on Saturday night for another NSC Prairie tilt. "It all started with intensity on the defensive end."
Vernon Hills, which slipped to 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the Prairie, went blow for blow with the Bulldogs until that key run late in the third and early in the fourth quarter.
"We couldn't get good stops at the end," said Cougars coach Paul Brettner, whose team faces Class 4A defending state champ Benet Academy on Saturday in Lisle. "Both us and Grant are upstart teams in a sense that we lost some key players to graduation. It will be a learning curve, and it starts with avoiding breaking down in the fourth quarter. We have to play hard for a full 32 minutes."
Cougars freshman forward Kayla Caudle was ferocious inside in the first half, scoring all of her 12 points. She shared team scoring honors with junior guard Katie Burrows, who did the opposite in scoring all of her 12 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth to keep Vernon Hills close.
The closest the Cougars got was 46-42 after Burrows' 2 free throws had cut the lead down to 46-42 with 1:16 left in the game.
But Sangster dropped in 2 free throws, and senior guard McKaylie Krey sealed things with a steal and layup to increase the lead to 8 points with 17 seconds left.