Zobel, Lake Zurich grasp the challenge against Grant

McKenna Zobel is learning very quickly how to become a better rebounder for Lake Zurich's girls basketball team.

Just a sophomore, Zobel is showing the kind of practice habits that are improving her game and helping out the team from her spot in the starting lineup.

Zobel scored 9 points along with 7 boards in leading Lake Zurich's girls basketball team past Grant 39-19 at Mundelein's holiday tournament Wednesday afternoon.

"I just try to jump higher than anybody else to get the ball," said Zobel, who stands 6 feet. "Before I get the ball, I box out. At practice, we work on rebounding all the time. We do a drill where we're against another girl, and we both go up and get it. It really does help out so much. Before high school, I couldn't get a rebound for the life of me. I was always taller then everybody else, but now I've been taught how to get the rebounds."

The Bears (7-7, 2-1) had good balance in scoring, as Abby Pirron led the way with 10 points (and 5 rebounds) and Rachel Kuehr added 8 points.

For Lake Zurich, it was satisfying bounce-back following a disappointing setback to Grayslake North on Tuesday.

"I like how we responded to a tough loss," Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. "Grayslake North made a run at us and we didn't respond. All year we have responded to teams like Stevenson and Zion-Benton when they made runs. For whatever reason, we didn't respond (against Grayslake North), but in this one we came back and got the job done in the third quarter."

The Bears held a 10-5 advantage after the opening quarter and then outscored Grant 10-3 in the second for a 20-8 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, Lake Zurich extended its lead with an 11-6 advantage to take a 31-14 lead.

Grant (9-4, 1-2) had its 9-game winning streak snapped against Libertyville on Tuesday and couldn't seem to find much intensity early on against Lake Zurich.

Ameerah Muhammad led the Bulldogs with 6 points.

"A lot of it is a lack of energy," Grant coach Katie Swanson said. "A lot of it is a lack of working together as a team. We were very sluggish on both days. We played into the hands of our opponents, and our opponents were smart in taking away what we usually do. We need to be able to adjust and we didn't do it."