RL seniors net NSC Prairie championship
Sometime after Round Lake's fans rushed their home court and sometime after they sprayed string on their girls basketball heroes, but before the players cut down the nets, an emotional Ashley Miller caught the eye of coach Gary Edge.
That did it to the senior.
"Coach Edge looked like he was going to cry," she said. "I've been with him for four years so, I was like, 'Oh, man, if he cries, then it's all going to go down.' "
Down streamed the tears on Miller's face. Down came the nets.
That, after the Panthers downed Wauconda 53-45 Saturday night in a battle that had all the electricity of a championship game, with a large crowd providing plenty of noise. It essentially was a title game, as the win gave Round Lake (22-3, 11-1) its first North Suburban Prairie Division crown since 2001 and a berth in Wednesday's 7 p.m. conference championship game at Lake Zurich (24-5).
Wauconda, which fell behind 14-5 after one quarter thanks in part to 8 turnovers and played catch-up the rest of the night, dropped to 19-4, 10-2.
"We started out a little nervous," said Bulldogs center Lauren Mead, who posted game highs of 20 points and 13 rebounds. "We never had a crowd this big, so we had to get used to everything. We got used to all the yelling, and we tried listening to the coach, but we didn't execute like we were supposed to on offense."
The Panthers, meanwhile, shot the ball well early and got strong play all night from their three four-year varsity players - 6-footers Miller and Amber Phillips and Labrenthia Murdock. Phillips and Murdock each had 16 points. Phillips and Miller grabbed 7 and 5 rebounds, respectively.
"I've never ever seen us play as hard as we did tonight," said Phillips, who played especially big down the stretch, going 3 of 3 from the floor to prevent Wauconda from getting closer than five. "(Friday) in practice we talked about all our plays and made sure everyone knew what was going on so nobody was running around like a chicken with their head cut off."
Tammy Ellis' first-half shooting helped keep Wauconda close. The sophomore scored 12 of her season-high 19 points in the opening two quarters. Ellis finished with three 3-pointers as well as 7 rebounds and 6 steals.
"I could tell all week that she was going to play well today," Bulldogs coach Jaime Weber said. "She just had a little bit different attitude in practice. We had a shootaround this morning and she hit everything."
Round Lake opened the second half with Murdock and Phillips hitting back-to-back jumpers, and the Panthers eventually extended their lead to 11 on a bank shot by Krystal Pitts with 1:30 to go in the third.
"I thought the turning point was in the second half," Edge said, "when we came out and stuck two shots and executed what we wanted to do."
While Round Lake also got contributions from sophomores Chanee Brown (7 points, 5 of 6 from the foul line in the final minute) and Sam Degillion (4 points on two long jumpers), Wauconda had only two starters make a field goal.
Point guard Kate Martino played ill and finished with just 1 point, but contributed 7 rebounds and 3 steals.
"This morning at the shootaround she looked terrible," Mead said. "She tried to pull it together for the game, but she's not feeling well. I'm really proud of her for stepping it up and playing as well as she did."
Carmel 39, St. Joseph 36: Tiffany Hendrickson scored 18 points, as the host Corsairs won their fourth in a row.
Carmel (17-9, 5-4 East Suburban Catholic) held an opponent under 40 points for the sixth time in its last seven games.
Vernon Hills 48, Grant 45: The Cougars concluded North Suburban Prairie Division play with their fifth straight victory.
Mallory Feece's 10 points led a balanced attack for visiting Vernon Hills (14-13, 6-6). Alana Coy and Sarah Krippinger added 9 points apiece. Krippinger hit three 3-pointers and also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Coy chipped in 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists, as well.
Jamie Rucks and Jessica Schwartz (6 rebounds) had 8 and 7 points, respectively.
Grant (15-11, 6-6) got 11 points and three 3s from Gina Cellucci. Brittani Schisler added 10 points.
Antioch 56, Lakes 37: On Senior Day, senior Martha Arntson and junior Alli Anttila led a balanced attack with 10 points apiece for the Sequoits in the North Suburban Prairie finale.
Arntson also grabbed 7 rebounds, as Antioch (12-12) finished 6-6 in the division.
Mary Doupis had 16 points for Lakes.
Libertyville 49, Fremd 47: Kristy Williams scored 13 points for the visiting Wildcats.
It was the sixth straight win for Libertyville (18-9).
Johnsburg 65, Grayslake Central 46: The Rams dropped their third in a row to fall to 4-4 in the Fox Valley Fox Division.
Alex Scarbro had 12 points for Grayslake Central (13-11), while Katelynn Putkonen hit a trio of 3-pointers for 9 points.
Johnsburg was led by Melissa Dixon with 23 points. Danielle Slivka added 18.
Prairie Ridge 52, Grayslake North 24: Shannon Hennelly scored 19 points for the host Wolves in the Fox Valley Fox game.
Grayslake North (6-19, 1-6), which suffered its fourth straight defeat, received 7 points from Kinsey Siler. Lauren Erickson was held to 2 points but had 10 rebounds.
Mundelein 52, Warren 47: The Mustangs captured their fourth straight win and 11th in 12 games. They improved to 23-4, finishing 9-3 in the North Suburban Lake Division.
Warren fell to 11-16, 7-5.