Parhas, Lake Zurich: lovin' it

Peggie Parhas really does love this game.

She's a fan of the NBA, the Bulls and Allen Iverson, among other players.

"I had his shoes back in like seventh grade," Lake Zurich's senior guard said.

Parhas loves watching Kobe Bryant, too, and her keen attention to his game paid dividends Tuesday night in the Bears' 54-43 win over Barrington in the teams' opening game of the Suburban Holiday Showcase at Stevenson.

Seemingly trapped on the baseline in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Parhas faked three times before turning and shooting. Her 12-foot shot hit nothing but net and just beat the buzzer, giving Lake Zurich a 36-29 lead.

"I learned that from Kobe," Parhas said. "I was watching him the other night. He gave three pump fakes and on the third one he shot it."

Parhas finished with a season-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor. The three-year varsity guard, who scored 18 of her points after halftime -- mostly on strong drives to the basket -- says she hasn't been shooting the ball as well as she'd like this season.

"It's been rough," said Parhas, who also had 4 assists and 4 steals. "Today felt good."

Lake Zurich (11-2) needed her big second half after Barrington (3-10) got itself back in the game after spotting the Bears a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Fillies got within four on a pair of occasions in the third quarter and trailed by only five when Parhas beat the buzzer with her tough baseline shot.

"We had a great comeback," Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro said. "We don't give up. From that respect, I'm proud of them. And they certainly showed some great flashes."

Lake Zurich pushed its lead back to double digits early in the fourth, as Coryn Schmit sank a 3-pointer and then a layup. The Bears continued to pull away.

"We got a lot of kids coming back from last year, but we're still young," LZ coach Chris Bennett said. "We're not quite sure yet how to get a good team down and then keep them down. We let up, get a little crazy with the turnovers, get a little lazy on defense, and the next thing you know it's a ballgame.

"We've done that probably five, six, seven times this year. The good side is, we've made the counter run to get ourselves back up in a lot of those games."

Gabby Chapa and Lydia Bauer added 10 and 9 points, respectively, for the Bears, who won their seventh in a row. Audrey Bauer had 8 rebounds.

Samantha Beach led Barrington with a season-high 14 points. The veteran guard missed the Fillies' first several games this season with an ankle injury.

"She's starting to get her timing back," Barreiro said. "She can't quite move as fast as her head wants her to move because of that ankle still, but you can see she's directing traffic out there and showing great leadership out on the floor."

Emily Harris had 9 points and 8 rebounds for Barrington, while Jenny Schnack scored 9 points coming off the bench.