A winning remedy for Mundelein

It was just what the doctor ordered, and perhaps a turning point in the season.

One step at a time, though, as on this night the Mundelein girls basketball team was simply looking for a victory to put an end to a nagging 9-game losing streak.

Mission accomplished, as the Mustangs overcame a 12-5 deficit early on and eventually pull away for a 43-34 North Suburban Lake victory over visiting Lake Forest on Thursday evening.

"We didn't start well at all," said Mundelein first-year coach Martin Pazanin, whose team improved to 2-9 overall and 1-4 in the Lake division. "But we started stepping into our shots and played much better defense after the first quarter."

Speaking of the opening act, the Scouts (2-9, 0-6) got off to a blazing start, a la the 3-pointer. Lake Forest jumped to that 12-5 lead halfway through the period after hitting 4 of 6 attempts from behind the arc. Sophomore forward Maeve Summerville (game-high 15 points) popped in three of those, and sophomore forward Olivia Douglass hit for another.

But then Mundelein woke up and scored the last 6 points to draw to within 12-11 at the end of the first. Senior forward Amy Richards had 4 of her 10 points during that stretch.

"It really feels good to get a win," said Richards. "We started slow but then we would either attack or pass through. To get this win hopefully will help get us over the hump."

The Mustangs stayed the course in the second and led 22-17 at halftime. Junior guard Kendall Wald (9 points) popped in a couple of treys to lead the charge in the second.

Lake Forest mounted a comeback in the third and closed to within 2 points of the lead (26-24) after a rebound and basket by freshman forward Grace Tirzmalis, who finished with 7 points.

But that's as close as the Scouts got, as Mundelein answered right back and opened things up with an 8-1 spurt to put the game out of reach at 34-25 after a 3-pointer by junior guard Rachel Tipperreiter on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Tipperreiter led the Mustangs with 12 points on four 3-pointers. She also grabbed 6 boards.

"We did a good job but still have to get better at closing games out," said Pazanin. "We're really young and don't have a lot of experience, but I think we're learning. We've been on the brink and in some close games so far, but hopefully tonight will help us get over that hump."

Kyle Wilhelm, now in his sixth season as varsity head coach of the Scouts, returned to his alma mater hoping for a little different result.

"We just stopped running our offense and we were getting beat down the floor," he said. "They (Mundelein) did a good job of beating us to our spots and taking us out of what we wanted to do."