Girls basketball: Stevenson starts fast, finishes strong in NSC win over Lake Forest
Host Stevenson was a little shorthanded for its Pink Out breast cancer awareness game Wednesday night against Lake Forest in a North Suburban Conference girls basketball tilt.
The Patriots were playing without key senior guard Nisha Musunuri, but they still got the job done in the end as they pulled away from the pesky Scouts late to capture a 60-48 NSC victory.
Aided by 5 turnovers by Stevenson (11-7, 5-1) in the fourth quarter, Lake Forest (7-9, 3-3) was able to cut the lead to 50-46 when Annie Acello scored off of a turnover with 3:30 to play.
But that was as close as the Scouts would get. Senior Michelle Dubilirer (21 points) scored on a drive, senior Sydney Rosland (game-high 22 points) hit her fourth 3-pointer from long range, and junior Alexa Karcz (12 points) scored on an inside hoop to boost the lead back to 57-46 with 1:15 to play.
"I think we just all came together as a team and decided we have to protect the ball in those strict situations. It's intense at the end and we didn't let the pressure get to us even though they went on that hot run," said Rosland, who had 12 points in the first quarter.
"We just knew we had to play solid defense and protect the ball on offense. We just work together really well, and one of our goals tonight was to come out really strong on defense which really led us to have the momentum for most of the game which really helped us."
The Patriots led 19-8 after one quarter and 25-11 in the second quarter before taking a 31-24 lead into halftime. A 3-pointer by Dubilirer (9 points in first half) gave the Pats their biggest lead at 45-29 late in the third quarter. But Lake Forest came alive offensively as Charlie Axus (7 points) scored 5 quick points while Acello had 10 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Senior Lauren Richards scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the first half while teammates Chloe Hvostik and Hallie Bodine scored 8 and 6 points, respectively.
"We were without Nisha (Musunuri) today, and I'm really proud of the way that our team stepped up. We asked a lot of Sydney in this game in Nisha's absence," said Stevenson coach Regan Carmichael.
"I really thought Sydney, Megs (Seribo), and all of those girls really stepped up and just came ready to play. We talked a lot about getting rid of our slow starts, and I thought we came out really ready to play. Credit to Lake Forest doing a great job of pressuring us and getting us into turnovers, but I'm really glad that we were able to handle it and we were ready for that 1-2-2 defense which we practiced against."
After being outscored 15-13 in the second quarter, the Patriots outscored Lake Forest 14-7 in the third quarter to build a 45-31 lead entering the final period.