Schmid's big effort lifts LZ
Stephanie Schmid's started feeling especially sharp in the Lake Zurich High School Field House during warm-ups at noon on Tuesday.
She imported that special feeling over to the field house at Stevenson High School.
The 5-foot-10 Lake Zurich senior super sub came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points as the Bears downed Barrington 54-38 in the fourth round of the Suburban Holiday Showcase.
Lake Zurich (10-5, 2-2) will play Stevenson (11-5, 2-2) at 4:30 p.m. today for the consolation championship at Loyola Academy.
"My shot felt great in warm-ups," said Schmid, who became the first Bear this season to score 20 or more points. "It felt great in the game, and my teammates were finding me."
Schmid found the net 9 times from the field and 4 from the free throw line.
She tossed home a 3-pointer in every quarter but the second and scored 16 points in the second half when Lake Zurich was able to pull away after a 15-15 tie at intermission.
The Bears gained breathing room in the final six seconds of the third quarter.
That's when their "center field press" really clicked with senior Cathryne Spear out front playing "center field."
The 5-foot-9 senior got a steal and flipped the ball to teammate Maise Cox for an uncontested layup that gave Lake Zurich a 34-29 lead with 5.5 seconds left.
Then Spear (7 points) came up with another quick steal under the Bears' basket and was fouled with 0.9 seconds. She made both free throws for a 36-29 lead.
"We got to within 3 points (32-29) and then made some key turnovers at end of third quarter," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "That really hurt us."
Katherine Anderson added 10 points for the Bears while the Fillies (5-10) were led by senior Nicole Collins and junior Maddie Bartz who each scored 10 points. Junior Alexa Resch added 7 points with 7 rebounds.
The Fillies were without starting sophomore Angie Kirchoff and a key reserve, senior Natasha Singh. Both were sidelined with ankle injuries.
Barreiro said Kirchoff could be ready today against St. Francis (at 3 p.m.) while Singh should be ready to go sometime next week.
"I thought Alexa had a real nice game overall," Barreiro added. "And Nicole Collins is really gutting it out now. She has strains in each of her calves and is playing through it. It affects her push-off and speed. She is in a lot of pain and is gutting it out."
The Fillies made only 5 of 21 free throws.
"Free-throw shooting right now has been a thorn in our side," Barreiro added. "Against good competition like Lake Zurich and the others in this tournament, you can't give away free shots like that."