Lake Zurich stays focused, earns rematch with Pats
As tempting as it was to sneak a peek, the Lake Zurich girls basketball team stayed away from its home gym while Stevenson and Highland Park battled there early Tuesday night in a regional semifinal game.
The Bears had a stake in the outcome, which is why they were curious. But they had a bigger stake in the game that followed the Stevenson-Highland Park game. They were on tap to take on Mundelein in the other semifinal, and the winner would get the winner of the early game, which was ultimately Stevenson, in Thursday’s regional championship game (7:30 p.m.).
“We didn’t (watch the Stevenson-Highland Park). No. No,” Lake Zurich forward Dori Darras said matter-of-factly. “We knew it had to be Mundelein first. We had to stay totally focused for Mundelein.”
The Bears zeroed in on that assignment with pinpoint precision, quickly running up a double-digit lead in the first quarter with hot perimeter shooting, strong play in the paint and a transition game that seemed effortless at times.
Mundelein got as close at 10 points in the third quarter, but Lake Zurich closed out a decisive 61-32 victory like a team that was determined to get to that second-round game.
The Bears, who improve to 21-9, get another shot at a Stevenson team that they recently defeated on a buzzer-beater for the first time in nearly 10 tries.
“They beat us in the playoffs my sophomore year, too,” said Darras, who lead three players in double figures with 15 points. “So now, we have to beat them in the playoffs. But now we know that they are beatable and that we can beat any team when we’re playing well.”
Mundelein coach Brian Evans is convinced that Lake Zurich could beat plenty of teams in the coming weeks. He thinks the Bears are on a roll and couldn’t have played much better than they did against his team.
The Bears were up 23-8 by the end of the first quarter and were up by 21 points by the end of the third quarter.
“They’re a very good team and if you look at our sectional, they’ve beaten every team in it during the regular season. This is a team that could win it all,” Evans said. “If they play as well as they did tonight, they could go all the way to the supers.”
The Mustangs had no answer for Lake Zurich’s size and strength inside, nor could they keep up when Lake Zurich sped down the floor in transition. The Bears scored countless layups in stride off of Mundelein turnovers.
“We came out with a great intensity on defense. We were flying around and set a tone for the game,” Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. “We did really nice running today. That’s the best we’ve run in a couple of weeks. And then we hit shots. We buried some big shots in the first quarter.”
Senior guard Katherine Anderson hit some big shots early on. She drained 3 three-pointers in the first half and finished with 13 points. Christina Sandstedt also finished in double figures for the Bears. She came off the bench to score 12 points.
Cathryne Spear and Stephanie Schmid added 9 and 8 points respectively for the Bears.
Meanwhile, Amanda Davis paced Mundelein with 13 points. She was the only player in double-figures for the Mustangs.
“We came out ready to go,” Darras said. “We made shots, we got good defensive stops. We took advantage of what they gave us. We just really want it.”
Stevenson 39, Highland Park 22: The Patriots advanced to Thursday’s regional title game by getting busy on defense.
Highland Park failed to reach double-digits in any quarter and was limited to just 2 points in the third quarter.
By halftime, Stevenson was sitting on a 28-15 lead.
The Patriots were led by junior Katherine Moffat, who finished with 12 points. Olivia Whalen, Katharine Batman, Alexandra Elzinga and Julia Dabrowski each added 6 points for Stevenson.