Girls basketball: Teamwork keys Wauconda’s win over Antioch

A passing grade for the Wauconda girls basketball team is a final report card filled with A’s.

The Bulldogs had 21 A’s for assists on 27 field goals to get past visiting Antioch 67-55 in a key Northern Lake County Conference matchup Saturday afternoon.

“It’s fun to pass the ball really quickly and get easy points,” said Wauconda senior center Emma Wisniewski, who had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

“The way we pass the ball, everyone is having fun,” said Wauconda senior Grace Parker after dishing out 3 assists with a game-high 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting. “Assists feel almost as good as scoring.”

The shared result had nearly five Bulldogs (17-2, 8-1) in double figures as they shot 50% from the field and 8-for-14 on 3-pointers. Sparkplug junior guard Lexi Manalo (8 points) had 3 of her 4 assists in the first three minutes and Kelsey Piehl (8 points) had 3 assists.

Sophomore Avery Geoghan (12 points, 3-for-4 on 3s), Sarah Palmer and Alessandra Rodriguez had 2 assists apiece. Wauconda ended just 1 point shy of matching its season-high and won its fifth consecutive game since a 33-17 loss to NLCC leader Grayslake Central (18-5, 9-0).

“When we lost to Central we were very selfish that game and had more turnovers than shot attempts,” said Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis, whose team had 17 assists in each of its previous two victories. “We’re starting to understand how much better we are as a team when we share the ball. They’ve bought into assists being as important as points.”

Balance was a big difference as Parker scored 30 when Wauconda won the first meeting 49-48. Antioch (10-10, 7-3) had three players in double figures in Heidi Rathmann (15 points, 6 rebounds), Scarlett Carroll (13 points) and Addie Webb (11 points, 9 rebounds).

But the Sequoits, who had won five in a row and seven of eight, had 21 turnovers converted into 14 Wauconda points.

“That wasn’t the team we can be,” said Antioch coach Jamie D’Andrea. “We have a lot of talent and if we just get all five on the court to do the same thing at the same time we can be dangerous. They’re a good team and they always shoot the lights out here.”

Parker had 9 points in a 21-8 tear that bridged halftime and put Wauconda up 46-31. Antioch answered with an 8-0 run but got no closer after Parker drove the baseline and found Geoghan for a 3.

“We’ve worked on sharing the ball,” Parker said. “We’ll definitely win games with multiple people in double digits.”