Martino gives Wauconda playoff payoff
She's Wauconda's money player and Kate Martino got a little richer Wednesday night.
After she helped the top-seeded Bulldogs swat No. 4 Vernon Hills 41-36 in the girls basketball teams' Class 3A regional semifinal at Vernon Hills, thanks in part to her swatting a shot by Cougars 6-foot-2 freshman Meri Bennett-Swanson, the 5-4 Martino sought out teammate Erinn Hellweg.
"Before the game I was talking with Erinn," Martino said. "She's like, 'If you can stuff (Bennett-Swanson), I'll give you $20.' I got to go collect."
"Yeah," Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said, "good luck with that."
Martino and her teammates got what they wanted most: a berth in Friday's 7:30 p.m. regional final at Vernon Hills. Wauconda (21-6) will play No. 2 St. Viator (20-10), a 55-40 winner over No. 3 Grayslake Central in Wednesday's second semifinal.
Martino led the way against Vernon Hills (17-12). She scored a game-high 17 points to go along with 4 assists, 3 steals and her 1 block, which she pulled off when she snuck behind Bennett-Swanson and stuffed the shot before it barely left Bennett-Swanson's hand.
"She gets her hands on a lot of basketballs," Cougars coach Paul Brettner said. "As soon as I see any of my kids driving with her on them or her helping, I just go, ('Oh, no')."
When Martino fed Diana Enriquez for a basket off an inbounds play, Wauconda led 36-29 with two minutes gone in the fourth quarter. But the Bulldogs couldn't pull away. They didn't secure victory until Martino hit 2 free throws with 12.4 seconds left to make it an 8-point game.
"We played great," said Vernon Hills senior guard Alana Coy, who had 7 points, 5 steals, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. "We just couldn't get it done at the end."
Bennett-Swanson posted her second double-double in a row, as she finished with team highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The ninth-grader might have been playing her most consistent basketball at the end of the season.
"She's been working hard in practice and getting a little more physical the last couple of weeks," Brettner said. "I think it showed tonight."
"She's a great player," Coy said.
The game was a battle between the top two teams in the North Suburban Prairie Division. They split during the regular season, with each winning on each other's home court. Vernon Hills won by seven on Dec. 9, while Wauconda took the rematch by a 17-point margin Jan. 23.
Vernon Hills led 17-10 early in the second quarter, but Wauconda finally took the lead with 16 seconds left before halftime on Tammy Ellis' pull-up jumper.
Wauconda took a 32-27 lead into the fourth after Martino scored in the post.
While Martino was the Bulldogs' only double-digit scorer, Roslyn Summerville added 8 points and 8 rebounds.
"Paul coaches them very well and prepares them very well," Dennis said. "We even said in practice that we weren't quite sure what he was going to throw at us (defensively). We've seen a man, a 2-3 zone and a triangle-and-2, and tonight they did a matchup zone. They're very well-coached defensively, and they definitely threw us off our game."