Whalen leads Stevenson past Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich's girls basketball team did a great job stopping visiting Stevenson's top scorers, Katie Batman and Kari Moffat.
But Stevenson has other options, and on this night it was senior Olivia Whalen's turn to shine as she led the Patriots past the Bears 44-32 in a North Suburban Lake Division game Saturday.
Whalen led the Pats with a season-high 14 points and also dished out 7 assists.
"On offense, we tried to get the best shot possible," said Whalen, who helped Stevenson (9-3, 4-1) take over first place in the NSC Lake. "My shots have been off recently and it felt good to get a few in. We've been practicing our shooting."
Batman, Moffat and Julia Dabrowski each added 8 points.
"Olivia played really well offensively," said Dabrowski, who had 11 rebounds and 5 steals. "She was patient with her shots. I think with (Lake Zurich) focusing on Katie and Kari, it gave her a lot of opportunities to shoot, and she capitalized on it."
Stevenson coach Tom Dineen was happy with the victory.
"It was a great team effort which was spearheaded by Olivia," Dineen said. "She had some big shots, had some key steals and played great defense. She was our instant offense tonight and this was her best game of the season."
Dori Darras led Lake Zurich with 17 points, including two 3-point shots.
"Stevenson stopped us from doing the things that we like to do and it gave us trouble" Darras said. "I just took what (Stevenson) gave me and was able to put the ball in."
Stevenson built a 20-10 half time lead. Lake Zurich managed to outscore the Patriots 10-8 in the third quarter to come within 28-20, but Whalen started the fourth with a 10-foot jump shot to shut the door.
"We did make alot of mistakes playing against their zone," said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett, whose Bears fell to 8-3 overall and 3-2 in the division. "Dori played a very good game. She has been playing real well the last two or three games and she helps to set up our post presence along with our outside jump shot."
Libertyville 41, Vernon Hills 38: Two of Lake County's best girls basketball teams squared off in the final tournament game of the day at Mundelein on Saturday night.
Neither Libertyville nor Vernon Hills disappointed.
Libertyville pulled out a 41-38 win, as Vernon Hills missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Nicole Kruckman scored a game-high 12 points to lead Libertyville (11-3, 2-0), which won its fifth game in a row. The Wildcats featured balanced scoring, as Alex Haley added 9 points, while Eileen Knauff and Haley Hoeksel chipped in 8 apiece.
Sydney Smith had 10 points for Vernon Hills (11-2, 1-1), which had its seven-game winning streak snapped. Meri Bennett-Swanson had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks for the Cougars.
Grayslake North wins twice: At Richmond-Burton, as part of the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic, Kendall Detweiler scored a career-high 30 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and the Knights beat North Chicago 58-41 for their second win of the day and ninth straight overall.
Brooke Sauer added 10 points for Grayslake North (8-4, 3-0), which began the day by beating Crystal Lake South 42-28 behind Detweiler's 9 points and Joanna Guhl's 8.
Lakes splits: At Woodstock, as part of the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic, the Eagles started the day with a 39-23 loss to Marian Central, before beating Harvard 68-33.
"Defensively (against Marian Central), we did a nice job but just could not get anything going offensively," Eagles coach Pete Schneider said.
Lakes was led by Amanda Smith, who went 8 of 10 from the foul line. Marian Central was led by Shannon Wuensch and Caitlyn McKenna with 8 points each.
Ashlee Cunningham had 14 points for Lakes, while Heather Hurlbut and Smith added 11 apiece.
"Harvard is struggling, but they play hard," Schneider said. "Their kids continue to work hard. We have been playing many young kids. I am very pleased with the way Marissa Merges, Sam Ney and Heather Hurlbut have begun playing."
Lakes (5-7) resumes the tournament Wednesday night at Woodstock.
Cary-Grove 38, Mundelein 36: At Mundelein, the host Mustangs led 25-23 after three quarters but got outscored 15-11 in the fourth.
Mundelein (4-8, 1-1) was led by Taylor Davis with 10 points. Amanda Davis and Molly Rosenow had 8 each.
Huntley 35, Grant 30: At Mundelein, the Bulldogs lost despite Morgan Jahnke's game-high 11 points, which included three 3-pointers.
Cassie Stimpson had 8 points for Grant (3-9, 0-2).
Carmel 45, Deerfield 35: At Warren, Kathleen Felicelli scored 13 points and Kaitlyn Lynch added 10 for the Corsairs in their tournament opener.
Carmel (7-4) also received 9 points from Sarah McHugh and 8 from Cassidy Kloss.
Grayslake Central 62, Lake Forest 44: At Warren, Claire Brennan scored 19 points and Skyler Jessop added 16, as the Rams' tournament-opening win stretched their winning streak to nine game.
Morgan Dahlstrom had 12 points for Grayslake Central (9-2).
Niles North 44, Warren 43: At Warren, Mariyah Henley poured in 26 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Vikings knocked off the tournament host in opening-round action.
Lexi Leneau and Alyssa Phillips had 15 and 13 points, respectively, for Warren (5-6).
Wauconda loses twice: At Marengo, the Bulldogs fell to Marengo 29-26 and Woodstock North 49-36.
Wauconda dropped to 3-9 and and 0-3 in the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic.
Round Lake loses twice: At McHenry, the Panthers lost 51-17 to McHenry and 36-17 to Crystal Lake Central.