Mundelein girls basketball tournament

Her 4-point output was, well, forgettable.

So Jamie Swanson made up for it Friday night.

Which was bad news for Conant.

A day after mustering just a field goal and a pair of free throws against Libertyville, the Grant senior forward showed again why she's considered one of the best shooters in Lake County. She poured in a career-high 27 points in leading Grant to a surprising blowout, 55-29, of the Cougars in a semifinal of the Mundelein Lady Mustangs Holiday Classic.

"Swanson, what a game she had," Bulldogs coach Tom Oeffling said. "She really stepped up for us. We needed that."

Swanson, who came in averaging almost 15 points per game, was 10 of 14 from the field (four 3-pointers) and 3 of 4 from the foul line.

"I was even surprised myself," she said, "because I came off a not-so-good game (Thursday)."

Grant improved to 13-2 and will play Waukegan for the championship at 8 p.m. today, while Conant fell to 14-2 and will face Cary-Grove at 6:30 p.m. for third place.

"We were a step slow against a physically good team," Conant coach Dan Travers said. "And we missed jump shots."

Swanson made hers.

Her three 3s and 14 points helped Grant take a 25-22 lead into halftime. She then picked up where she left off, opening the third quarter by sinking a 19-footer and converting a 3-point play.

"We knew she could shoot," Travers said. "We made some lapses on her and she made us pay."

The Bulldogs seemed to feed off their three-year varsity player. They outscored Conant 17-3 in the third, making 6 of 8 shots from the floor while limiting the Cougars to 1-of-9 shooting.

Grant didn't let up in the final quarter, outscoring Conant 13-4.

Oeffling called it the best 16 minutes his team has played this season.

"(In the first half) we were allowing (Conant) to get those nice pin posts, and they were dumping over that," Grant's coach said. "It's just simple fundamentals. We weren't between our girl and basket, and they were able to sneak by us and get points that way, and that hurt us. And we didn't defend the 3 very well at all."

Grant, which shot 20 of 37 (54 percent), also got 12 points from Autumn Gaylor. Tori Ziegler (7 points), Bailey Wagner (7 rebounds) and point guard Heather Ruetsche (6 points) also had productive games. C.J. Hill added 4 rebounds coming off the bench.

"Conant, we heard a lot about them," said Swanson, who also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. "They were a good team. We played really good defense, and everyone contributed."

Conant post Michelle Rawleigh scored 11 of her team-high 13 points, including a 3-pointer, in the opening half. Monica Danek sank two 3s and scored 8 points coming off the bench.

"The dam broke on us (in the second half)," Travers said. "We came out with good intentions, but we missed some jump shots and we let (Grant) get some easy baskets. They physically whipped us."

-- Joe Aguilar

Waukegan 60, Cary-Grove 51: Danasha Jenkins and Bianca Jarrett each scored 24 points for the Bulldogs in the nightcap at Mundelein.

Danielle Smith had 20 points for Cary-Grove.

Mundelein 65, Libertyville 53: Toni Knar scored a game-high 16 points, as the Mustangs rebounded from their overtime loss to Conant the previous night.

Mundelein (12-4) also received 13 points from Olivia Dunigan and 11 from J.J. Sawchuk. Samantha Panitch and Kelsey Weyers each had 8, and Kelsey O'Connor chipped in 7.

Libertyville (8-9) had four players score in double figures. Casey Hopper led the Wildcats with 12 points, Dana Eriksen and Maka Stewart had 11 apiece, and Ali Haws contributed 10. Megan White scored 7.

Today, Libertyville plays Rolling Meadows at 3:30 p.m., with Mundelein taking on Huntley at 5 p.m.

Z-B 44, Vernon Hills 39: Zion-Benton received 11 points apiece from Brittany Simmons and Abby Hanson, while Dominikque Williams added 10.

Vernon Hills (6-10) was led by Amy Burton's 17 points.

Huntley 29, Rolling Meadows 15: After the first quarter, it looked like the Huntley-Rolling Meadows meeting at Mundelein would be competitive.

But where the Red Raiders continued into the second quarter, the Mustangs didn't, and Huntley took the defensive struggle 29-15.

"We were real sluggish in both halves," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "We did what we needed to do defensively. But we just kind of sputtered offensively."

Huntley outscored Rolling Meadows 10-3 in the second quarter and held the Mustangs to just 3 in the second half.

"I thought Allyson Stellmach did a nice job of stepping up," Raethz said. "She gave us a little lift in the first half."

Stellmach had a breakthrough game with 10 points.

"We worked together and came out with the win," Stellmach said. "(I'm) happy with (the 10-point game). That's high for me. I'm very excited."

Katie Bergquist sank a pair of 3-pointers for Huntley (9-4), which will face Mundelein today at 5 p.m. for fifth place. Daisy Jara added 8.

After going down 7-0 early, the Mustangs reversed their fortune and went on a 7-0 run thanks to Shannon McGuire (5 points), Liezl Aluquin (4) and Jenna Milas (3) to tie the game in the first.

A free throw by Milas early in the second quarter put Rolling Meadows (5-11) up 10-9, but that would be its only lead of the game.

"It was a rough one," said Rolling Meadows coach Patrick O'Connell. "We didn't shoot well. If we had just hit (some) free throws, we'd have been in a more competitive situation."

A couple of injuries didn't help.

"It was frustrating, we had a couple of kids get banged up," O'Connell said of starters Alexa Bennett and Kirsten Vliet, who both had to leave for part of the game.

The second half was more bad news with the Mustangs scoring just 3 points and none in the fourth.

"Our kids played hard, they never game," O'Connell said. "We just didn't get the job done putting the ball in the basket."

The Mustangs will concluded their tournament today at 3:30 p.m. in the seventh-place game against Libertyville.

-- Bill Swick