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Plenty of support as Lake Zurich rolls

The Lake Zurich student section was small.

But noticeable.

A handful of boys from the Lake Zurich varsity basketball team came out to cheer on the girls varsity team in its IHSA state tournament opener on Wednesday at the Grayslake North Class 4A regional.

The boys wore their unmistakable blue and white striped warm-up pants that they wear for games. (Think the iconic red and white striped warm-up pants of the Indiana Hoosiers.)

The Lake Zurich girls, seeded No. 7 in the sectional, made a point of running across the court to high-five their pinstriped fans just moments after they put the finishing touches on a big 48-24 win over No. 10 Grant.

"It's nice to have a student section," said Lake Zurich sophomore guard Ella Gilbertson, who tied teammate McKenna Zobel for game-high scoring honors. Each of them scored 15 points. "It was encouraging. It was good to have them here.

"We go to a lot of the boys' games, they try to come to ours. We all know each other. It's fun."

The Bears also had fun dismantling Grant, a 20-win team, in a game that was never close.

Lake Zurich, which improves to 17-10, was up 25-8 by halftime, held Grant to just 3 points in the second quarter, 10 field goals on the game and forced a total of 21 Grant turnovers.

The Bears also kept 6-foot Grant center Mallory Harrity, one of the best post players in Lake County, in check. Harrity was tagged with two early first-quarter fouls, sat much of the first half and finished with just 8 points, although that was a team-high. About a week ago, Harrity went off for a career-high 30 points against Round Lake.

"We knew that Grant was bigger than us and more physical than us so we knew it had to be team defense, it couldn't be just one person guarding their post," Gilbertson said. "We knew we all had to work together to guard (Harrity) and I think we did pretty well on her.

"It was good for us that she was out (with foul trouble) because we could go to the basket more and take more layups without having to worry about her. It was nice. There was more freedom (on offense) and we didn't have to worry so much about her on defense."

Harrity and Grant showed some energy early in the third quarter, and Harrity had 2 quick baskets. But Grant, which shared the Northern Lake County Conference championship with Grayslake Central and finishes with a 22-8 record, could not cut its deficit to fewer than 15 points.

"It was tough not to have Mallory (in the first half), but that's not the excuse," Grant coach Kevin Geist said. "It seemed like we had a lot of factors working against us. It started with us not being able to make an open jump shot. We're kind of new to this stage here. Maybe the nerves got caught up to us. And when that ball doesn't go through that net, you start pressing."

For Harrity, this is the end of her four-year varsity career, and her basketball career overall. Although she was contacted by multiple recruiters this year, Harrity is electing not to play in college next year. She wants to focus on her studies.

The reality of the end of her career seemed to hit Harrity hard. She was in tears on the bench after the horn sounded, and she walked to the bus with a box of tissues that she found in the team room.

"I'm pretty sad," Harrity said through tears. "Ending the season like that, in a game that could have been so much closer, it just stinks. We know we could have done better.

"We just didn't execute as well as we wanted to. We should have come out hotter and stronger than we did. Our effort was there, but a lot didn't go our way."

No one scored in double figures for Grant. After Harrity's 8 points, there were multiple players with 3 points.

For Lake Zurich, Maddy Piggott joined Gilbertson and Zobel in double figures with 11 points.

Lake Zurich has won seven of its last eight games, including against three of the top six seeds in the sectional, Warren, Stevenson and Lake Forest.

"There's no doubt Grant is a good team. They can put points on the board," Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. "But when we defend, we play well. And we know we can defend. Sometimes we struggle to score points, but we know we can defend. We spend a lot of time on it in practice"

Images: Lake Zurich vs. Grant, girls basketball

  Grant's Mercedes Uribe (23) is fouled by Lake Zurich's Maddy Piggott during Class 4A regional semifinal play. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Maddy Piggott shoots against Grant during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Maddy Piggott, left, and Grant's Mercedes Uribe battle for a rebound during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Ella Gilbertson (5) drives in for a layup past Grant's Ally Mahinay and Grant's Kennedy Kiesgen during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Anna Biergans (21) drives on Grant's Ally Mahinay during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Mckenna Zobel, back and Grant's Kennedy Kiesgen battle for a rebound during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Grant's Mallory Harrity cheers from the bench during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Grant's Mercedes Uribe, left, and Lake Zurich's Grace Kinsey battle for a rebound during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Grant's Kennedy Kiesgen, right, drives on Lake Zurich's Maddy Piggott during Class 4A regional semifinal play Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  The Lake Zurich bench cheers during Class 4A regional semifinal play against Grant on Wednesday at Grayslake North. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
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