Youth serves Vernon Hills

Among the blue and gold streamers and balloons on the walls of Round Lake's gym were poster boards for each of the girls basketball team's four seniors who were being honored.

Each decorated board featured a portrait of the respective player from her youth. That was Chanae Brown as a fourth-grader, for example.

On the court, Round Lake's opponent, Vernon Hills, didn't need pictures.

More than most teams, the Cougars aren't too far removed from those grade-school days.

Which bodes well for Vernon Hills' future, especially considering the Cougars' 55-31 win Friday night stretched their season-best winning streak to five games.

"We're playing together really well," guard Abby Springer said. "We've started sharing the ball. That's what we've been stressing making really good passes and getting each other open."

Vernon Hills (13-10, 8-3) is technically still alive in the North Suburban Prairie Division race. Not that Cougars coach Paul Brettner is expecting first-place Wauconda (9-1) to stumble against both Antioch and Grant.

"It would be nice and all," said Brettner, whose Cougars conclude NSC Prairie play by hosting North Chicago on Tuesday. "But we're just playing to get better every day."

Three weeks ago, Vernon Hills defeated Round Lake 60-35.

"They were decent when we played them a couple of weeks ago, and they're so much better now," Panthers coach Howard Conkling said. "He's got them rolling at the right time. He does a great job with them. They're young, too."

Brettner's "six starters," as he calls them, include juniors Springer and Julie Pecht, sophomores Meri Bennett-Swanson and Brie Bahlmann, and freshmen Sydney Smith and Lauren Webb.

The 6-foot Webb had 11 points and 10 rebounds against Round Lake (8-16, 1-11), while Springer added 10 points, including two 3-pointers, and 4 assists. The 6-2 Bennnett-Swanson rang up 9 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Smith's 8 points included a 3-pointer that beat the first-quarter buzzer.

"They're good 3-point shooters and they have posts, so it's hard to guard both," Brown said. "Most teams have one or the other, instead of both. Plus, tonight, I don't think we did a good job of boxing out like we're supposed to."

Brown, who was coming off a 30-point effort against Waukegan, led all scorers with 14 points. Pecht made her work, however. Brown got to the foul line 16 times, making half of her free throws.

"You got to be aware of a kid like that," Brettner said. "She's super quick, she's got a lot of talent, and she's got a lot of speed."

Leading 8-6 after one quarter, Vernon Hills took control in the second quarter, outscoring Round Lake 25-2 on the strength of 10-of-14 shooting. Springer's 3-pointer ended a 14-0 run that started with Smith's 3 to end the first quarter, and Pecht's trey in the closing seconds had the visitors up 33-8 at the break.

"All of the players since winter break have made strides both individually and as a team," Brettner said. "We're really doing a nice job playing team defense and sharing the basketball. We're finding out good things happen when those things happen."

Besides Brown, Round Lake honored fellow seniors Sam Danguilan (7 points, two 3-pointers), Krystal

Pitts (8 points, two 3s) and Sydney Miller (4 rebounds) before the game.

"We're very proud of those four," Conkling said. "They're just wonderful young ladies who play very hard."