Lake Zurich rolls past North Chicago
A slow start was followed by a fast finish.
Lake Zurich and North Chicago were stuck in low gear for the first few minutes of their North Suburban Conference girls basketball crossover Saturday. In fact, Lake Zurich sat on a 4-2 lead with four whole minutes having run off the clock.
But the Bears eventually downshifted and downed North Chicago in the process, winning 69-38.
“Then all of a sudden I looked up and I think it was 25-2,” Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. “We started running and doing a better job pressuring their guards. We got a couple of easy steals and went from there.”
Cathryne Spear scored 17 points for the host Bears, who bolted to a 17-2 lead after one quarter. Katherine Anderson added 14 points, including two 3-pointers, and Stephanie Schmid had 10 points, with two 3s of her own.
“We literally looked at each other (early in the game) and said, ‘We are playing like we’re asleep,’” Spear said. “We need to step it up and we did. Defensive pressure got us going and we started attacking the middle of the court more and finding open shooters.”
Dori Darras chipped in 8 points for Lake Zurich (12-6), which was ahead 28-7 at halftime and 44-24 after three quarters.
Darniqua Hood led North Chicago with 17 points.
Wauconda 44, Lake Forest 37: Diana Enriquez had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals, and the Bulldogs rallied for the win the NSC crossover.
Lauren Nee and Andrea Lichterman added 10 and 9 points, respectively, for Wauconda (6-10), and each player had 4 steals, as well. Chavez Coombs chipped in 10 rebounds, 5 points, 4 blocked shots and 3 assists for the Bulldogs, who won for the third time in four games.
Mary Striedl scored 9 points for Lake Forest, which led 27-26 entering the fourth quarter thanks to outscoring Wauconda 15-6 in the third.
The Bulldogs were up 20-12 at halftime.
Warren 68, Lakes 45: Jessica Prince poured in a game-high 18 points, and Lexi Leneau added 16 points, 6 assists and 3 steals for the Blue Devils, who led the NSC crossover 20-7 after one quarter.
Warren (10-7) also got 8 points and 10 rebounds from Alyssa Phillips. Amanda Barger scored 6 points and dished out 8 assists, and Taylor Cotey contributed 7 points (3-of-3 shooting, 3-pointer).
Prince was 5 of 5 from the floor and 8 of 10 from the line, while also grabbing 3 rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. Leneau sank three 3-pointers.
Lakes (6-10) was led by Ashlee Cunningham and Terese McMahon with 11 points apiece. The Eagles got within 36-29 by halftime, but then got outscored 15-4 in the third quarter.
Nicole Mogged had 4 points, 5 steals and 3 assists for Lakes, and Amanda Smith totaled 7 points and 3 steals.
Stevenson 60, Grant 17: Katie Batman scored 22 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Patriots cruised in the NSC crossover.
Stevenson (13-5) was up 13-2 after one quarter and 27-8 at halftime. Alex Elzinga added 11 points.
Grant, which received 4 points apiece from Kassie Stimpson and Brittany Glover, fell to 4-12.
Marian Catholic 58, Carmel 44: The visiting Corsairs dropped the East Suburban Catholic Conference contest to fall to 9-7 overall and 0-3 in the ESCC.