Mustangs flash up another 'W'
And so the paper trail continues.
When the Mundelein girls basketball team recently broke the school record for wins with its 23rd victory of the season, Theresa Knar got an idea. She wanted to help her daughter Toni and the rest of the Mustangs commemorate each ensuing win with a little memento.
As Mundelein closed in on more victories, Theresa would pass out sheets of paper to all of the other Mundelein parents and fans that indicated the newest victory total. And everyone would happily show them off from the stands.
On Thursday night at the Warren Class 4A regional, the bright yellow sheets waving on Mundelein's side of the gym read 26. And this time, there was an added bonus. On the flip side were the words, "CHAMPS! CHAMPS! CHAMPS!"
With their 26th victory of the season, a 61-49 thumping of No. 6 Cary-Grove, the third-seeded Mustangs also won their second straight regional title.
That means Mundelein (26-4) advances into Tuesday's Barrington sectional semifinal (7:30 p.m.) against second-seeded Lake Zurich, which defeated Stevenson 51-34 to move on.
"We didn't want to hurt Mom's feelings," joked Toni Knar, when asked if there was any added pressure to win so as to not waste the signs.
In all seriousness, Knar did do her part to make sure those yellow signs were relevant.
The junior guard poured in a game-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers. She was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.
"I can't take all the credit," said Knar, who sports a clear face mask to protect the nose that she broke about a month ago. "There were amazing screens and everyone was spreading out and that opened up gaps. That was a key factor. It all worked out well."
The same could be said for Mundelein's nagging, stingy, hard-nosed defense. It tortured Cary-Gove for much of the night.
The Trojans racked up 23 turnovers and made good on only 33 percent of their shots.
"We try to play fast (on defense) and it's all about how we rotate and communicate," Knar said.
Cary-Grove (22-7) never had the lead and was down by as many as 12 points in the second and third quarters. But a surge at the end of the third quarter, capped off by a 3-pointer by Liz Bart just before the buzzer, cut the Trojans' deficit to 48-41 heading into the final quarter.
But Mundelein opened with a 7-3 run to go back up by double figures and all but squash any hopes Cary-Grove had of completing the comeback.
"Cary-Grove never gives up. We always fight to the end, we never quit, we put our hearts into everything, every time," said Bart, a junior guard who finished with a team-high 13 points, including four 3-pointers.
"Everyone was pumped up at the beginning of the fourth, but it didn't come out the way we wanted it. They scored those buckets early and we just got down."
Bart was Cary-Grove's only double-figurer scorer, but Mundelein got double figures from three other players besides Knar.
Senior guard JJ Sawchuk rang up 16 points, including 10 in the second half and four points during the run that shut the door on Cary-Grove at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Kelsey O'Connor added 11 points and Olivia Dunigan chipped in 10 points.
"I thought tonight we attacked at the right time and we took jump shots at the right time," said Mundelein coach Brian Evans, who earned the fifth regional championship of his 10-year career. "Everything just kind of clicked for us. It was kind of nice."