Color Mundelein a winner
It was a win-win-win situation at Mundelein.
The Mustangs’ Breast Cancer Awareness “Pink Out” event on Saturday was clearly a win. And ultimately, Mundelein got a win on the court, too, defeating Crystal Lake South, 57-42.
The winning streak continued for the Mustangs on Monday. They got a 67-55 North Suburban Conference Lake Division win over Lake Forest.
Freshman forward Natalie Busscher finished with 17 points to lead Mundelein, which also got double-figures from senior guard Taylor Davis (13 points) and reserve senior forward Rachael Millner (12 points).
“I’ve been watching (Mundelein boys basketball coach) Dick Knar and his practices and took a page out of his book with all that scoring,” Mundelein coach Brian Evans said with a laugh. “That’s a lot of scoring for us. It was like a tennis match, back and forth.
“Our defense wasn’t very good, but we did shoot the ball better and that’s been an issue for us all season. We’ve been having a hard time getting to the basket and we did a much better job of that against Lake Forest.
The Mustangs improved to 10-14 on the season.
Book it
First they raised awareness. Now the girls on the Mundelein basketball team are out to raise kids’ interest in reading.
In the wake of their “Pink Out” Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser on Saturday, the Mustangs are prepping for another community event in which they’ll read books to local grade schoolers.
On Thursday, the girls will visit Mechanics Grove Elementary to promote the benefits and fun of reading.
“The girls even made this video for the teachers at the school to show their kids about how reading is good for you,” Mundelein coach Brian Evans said. “It was kind of this MTV style video with music and the teachers told us they loved it.”
Evans says his team has been involved in a community reading program for kids for the last three years and that kids who achieve their reading goals at school will be recognized at one of Mundelein’s upcoming games.
Big surprise
It was a pleasant surprise when everyone at Grant found out recently that Kaylie Kanzler was going to get to play this season after all.The sophomore guard blew out her knee in June during a summer league game and figured to be out this entire season to rehab it. But she progressed better and faster than everyone expected and was cleared to play for the first time on Saturday.What happened Saturday in a game against Antioch was more than a pleasant surprise. It downright shocked Grant head coach Matt Lukemeyer.
Kanzler played just 8 minutes, but scored 3 points, blocked a shot and grabbed 7 big rebounds. Seven rebounds in 8 minutes. Talk about efficiency, particularly on a shaky knee.
#147;I couldn#146;t believe the way she was playing out there, especially with the rebounding,#148; Lukemeyer said of Kanzler. #147;She wasn#146;t hesitant or afraid at all. She worked so hard at her rehab and she was so anxious to get back.
#147;She was so excited to be back and her teammates were so excited to see her back, too. They were so happy when she scored.#148;
Lukemeyer is expecting Kanzler to do a lot more scoring and rebounding and everything, really. And that should give the 5-14 Bulldogs just the boost they#146;ve been looking for.
#147;Kaylie is the type of player who can do everything,#148; Lukemeyer said. #147;She#146;s a very good shooter, she can obviously rebound and she plays very good defense.
#147;We#146;re going to work her back in slowly, but we#146;re hoping that as she gets more in shape and more comfortable that she can really help us.#148;