'O-live,' LZ live it large

So how do you top a pair of one-point outcomes?

Maybe with a 100-point game.

No, Lake Zurich didn't hit triple digits in its Class 4A sectional semifinal against Mundelein at Barrington on Tuesday night. For a half, however, the Bears were nearly on that remarkable pace thanks to near-perfect shooting.

Playing a Mustangs team that came into the game having held half of its 30 opponents to fewer than 40 points, Lake Zurich torched the nets for 47 first-half points en route to an 82-60 win that turned into a stunning rout.

"We didn't want to win by 1 point again," said guard Olivia Allen, who scored a career-high 32 points, making sure the Bears wouldn't have repeats of their 48-47 and 51-50 nail-biters over Mundelein during North Suburban Lake Division play. "We had to come out real hard, get a big lead and keep it."

The Bears did exactly that, scoring just three seconds into the game when Allen tipped the opening jump ball to Audrey Bauer, who raced to the basket for an uncontested layup. Bauer finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.

Lake Zurich (28-5), which earned a berth in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. sectional final against Wheeling (30-1), never relented. The Bears wound up shooting a staggering 67 percent, hitting 29 of 43 shots, mainly on layups.

It wasn't the kind of game Bears coach Chris Bennett expected.

"I thought this would be a drag-'em-out, slug-'em-out," he said. "We started running, and for as many points as we scored, I was extremely happy with our shot selection. I don't think we took any bad shots. I think we took what they gave us."

With Lydia Bauer scoring 9 of her 16 points, and Allen adding 7, the Bears led 23-16 after one quarter. They shot 10 of 12 from the floor, which Mundelein (26-5) nearly matched, as the Mustangs shot 7 of 10.

"They were making everything," Allen said. "They would get the ball, shoot it and it would go in. They were shooting like 100 percent."

But not better than the Bears.

"We just came out and 'O-live' was on fire," Lydia Bauer said of Allen. "We were all rebounding and we were all excited. We've been talking about (the game) for a while. When you play a team three times, you know the other team very well. It just comes down to who's going to make the little plays on offense and defense."

Mundelein coach Brian Evans said his team knew exactly what Lake Zurich was going to do, but the Mustangs couldn't keep up their hot shooting and couldn't make any defensive stops.

"It was layup practice for them," Evans said. "It was just ridiculous. They shot the ball well. You can't take anything away from them, but a part of it was our lack of intensity on defense."

Allen continued her torrid shooting in the second quarter as Evans watched his team, in his words, allow "layup after layup after layup" to the athletic senior. Lake Zurich extended its lead to 47-31 by halftime, shooting 8 of 12 from the floor in the second quarter.

"Obviously it was defense that killed us the first half," said Toni Knar, who scored 15 of her 18 points in the first half. "I thought it was an amazing offensive game in the first half. We ran everything like we were supposed to. It was just on defense, unfortunately, (Lake Zurich) had us beat."

Allen shot 13 of 15 from the floor. The Bears also got 5 points, including a 3-pointer, from birthday-girl Karlissa Skarb.

Kelsey O'Connor scored a team-best 20 points for Mundelein. Besides Knar, who sank four 3s, JJ Sawcuk also scored in double figures with 14 points.