Spear, Lake Zurich prevail
Spare Cathryne Spear the cackles.
A Warren fan tried to disrupt Lake Zurich’s senior guard when she shot free throws — with one hand — during Thursday night’s North Suburban Conference Lake Division basketball showdown in Gurnee.
“Everyone always laughs at me,” said Spear, who takes her left hand off the ball just as she flicks her right wrist to shoot. “They’re like, ‘You shoot with one hand.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I can’t help it.’ ”
She couldn’t help but knock down free throw after free throw against Warren. Her 14-of-16 performance (88 percent) from the foul line, and a vintage Lake Zurich defensive effort resulted in the visiting Bears pulling away for a 47-32 win.
Spear finished with a game-high 18 points, while adding 5 rebounds and 2 steals, as Lake Zurich improved to 6-1 by capturing its NSC Lake opener.
“Definitely a great win against a good basketball team,” Bears coach Chris Bennett said. “They’re struggling right now, but they’re going to find their rhythm and have a great season.”
As well as Spear shot from the stripe, Warren (2-3, 0-1) shot that poorly from the floor. The Blue Devils made only 12 of 50 shots.
“It’s tough to win games when you can’t make shots,” Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz said. “That’s been our thing all year. We need to become better shooters, but we need to have better shot selection. We get too impatient in our offense.”
Lake Zurich held Warren without a field goal for a 10-minute stretch in the opening half and extended an 11-10 advantage after one quarter to 26-14 by the break.
Spear made all 4 of her foul shots in the third quarter. Lake Zurich had only 1 field (by Dori Darras) in the quarter and only a one-handed right-wing jumper by Spear in the fourth. But the Bears were able to extend their lead thanks to their efficiency at the free-throw line.
Spear made her first 10 free throws before missing the first of two with 2:21 left.
“I’ve changed my shot a lot,” Spear said. “I’ve had issues with it. I’ve been working all summer on my shot.
“Sophomore year,” she added, “I shot with two hands and they would cross over completely. So Bennett had me work specifically on shooting with one hand, with a good follow through. It just kind of ended with one-hand shooting.”
“She’s fixed (her foul shooting) with hard work,” said Bennett, who guesses Spear has been shooting in the low 70-percent range from the line this season.
Maisie Cox and Stephanie Schmid added 10 points apiece for Lake Zurich. Cox also defended star guard Lexi Leneau, who did not score.
Warren’s 6-foot-3 Jessica Prince had 10 points and 7 rebounds, despite fouling out with 4:13 left in the third quarter. Amanda Barger also had 10 points, hitting a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers. Blue Devils 6-footer Alyssa Phillips had 9 points and 10 rebounds (8 on the offensive glass).
Only four players scored for Warren.
“We had 12 field goals, and Alyssa and Jessica had 8 of them,” Stanczykiewicz noted. “And yet we don’t give them enough touches. That’s a problem. That’s something we have to continue to improve on. We have to play inside-out.”
In the end, Spear got the last laugh on those who tried to throw off her near-perfect shooting from the line.
“We really wanted to win this game because (Warren) had a lot of hype going in and we haven’t really been recognized much,” Spear said. “We’re not exactly tall. We wanted to go in and show everyone that we can play just as well (as Warren).”
Lake Zurich played well enough, overcoming 17 turnovers to Warren’s 22.
“Two teams that just know each other real well,” Bennett said. “So it’s going to be an ugly game.”