Whalen, Stevenson stop 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.
“Our division is going to be a battle every night,” Dineen said. “We had three games against three quality teams (Lake Forest, Warren) and I am very happy where we are right now.”
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. “(Stevenson) did a great job guarding against the things that were our best options, and we didn’t do a very good job to find a second option. 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.”