VERNON HILLS, Ill.– From the very beginning, Scouts guard Halle Douglass had her mind set that she would bounce back from her 2-point season-opening performance on Monday night. In fact, on Thursday night in Vernon Hills against the (1-0) Cougars, Douglass took the tip off, won it, and went back to bring the ball up the floor as the team’s point guard and floor general.

As it turned out, there was no stopping her.

The highly-touted sophomore wound up with 21 points (including a much improved 8-14 clip from the field) en route to a 66-50 Scouts victory, the first of the young season for Coach Kyle Wilhelm’s bunch. Though Vernon Hills started off with a hot shooting touch from the outside, the Scouts rallied back, answering in a 30-7 run in the middle two quarters to help propel to victory.

Junior Ellie Pearson and yet another freshman, this time Lily Trkla–whose older brother Sean is a guard for the boys team–had great games for the Scouts to supplement Douglass’ performance. Pearson and Trkla each added 12 points, combining to go 9-15 from the field against the Vernon Hills defense.

The Scouts still struggled from the 3-point line on Thursday night, going 1-17 (6%). In their first game, they were a mere 2-20 (10%) from the arc. Their current 3-37 (8%) is going to need to show improvement if the Scouts intend on stretching defenses this winter.

The Scouts return to action this Saturday against the Antioch Sequoits at Vernon Hills High School at 2:30 pm.