O'Connor is oh-so-good for Mustangs

Mundelein's Kelsey O'Connor started out slow in the first quarter with only a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Little did anyone know that she would finish with the game of her career.

The junior guard scored a career-high 35 points to lead the Mustangs to a 72-29 romp over host Zion-Benton in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division girls basketball game Saturday.

"She got a lot of open looks," Mustangs coach Brian Evans said "Kelsey is a good shooter. When she gets open on the perimeter, we feel that she's going get her 3-point shots."

O'Connor, who came in averaging 10.5 points per game, shot 11 of 18 from the floor with five 3-pointers and converted 8 of 12 shots from the free throw line.

She scored 10 points in the second quarter in helping the Mustangs outscore Zion-Benton 20-2 to lead 38-12 at halftime.

"We prepared a lot for this game," said O'Connor, who scored 12 more points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth. "We ran a really good offense and the other team missed a lot of shots that they normally make. We were ready for (Zion-Benton's) pressure defense."

Meanwhile, Evans knew exactly what his team needed to do if it was going to win.

"I told my team that if we can stop Brittany Simmons from scoring a lot of points, then we have a chance to win this game," Evans said. "Our defense has to put enough pressure on her to make sure that she doesn't take off and score a lot of points."

The Eastern Michigan-bound Simmons, who averages 15 points a game, started with by scoring Zion-Benton's first eight points, but she scored only two more the rest of the game for a team-leading 10.

"Our heads weren't in the game today," Simmons said. "We just need to start to play together as a team."

Mundelein (9-2, 2-1) helped limit Zion-Benton to 12-of-53 shooting (23 percent).

Zion-Benton (5-5, 0-4) also shot poorly from the free throw line, making just 3 of 11.

"We still have lots of things we need to work on," Zion-Benton first-year coach Leslie Toole said. "We're just not in sync right now. For whatever reason, the ship is sinking and we got to find a way to (right) it. I can't put my hand on what specifically is wrong, but right now the only blame I can toss out is me."

Brooke Evans added 10 points for Mundelein. J.J. Sawchuk and Toni Knar added 8 and 7, respectively.