Kuehr, Lake Zurich shoot by Barrington
After banking in a 3-pointer from the right wing to beat the third-quarter buzzer, a wide-eyed Rachel Kuehr jumped excitedly and sprinted to Lake Zurich's bench with a wide smile.
The senior guard could hardly believe the basketball dropped in.
"I've made a couple of those late in games," Kuehr said, laughing. "That one just went in."
Kuehr's clutch 3 punctuated an eight-minute frame for the Bears that was even more spectacular than her shot.
No. 7 Lake Zurich sank baskets on its first eight possessions of the third quarter. The textbook execution resulted in a 16-0 run to break open a game that was tied at halftime, and the Bears went on to beat No. 10 Barrington 58-38 in the two teams' Class 4A regional semifinal at Lake Zurich on Tuesday night.
Kuehr's game-high 15 points, all in the second half, led four players in double figures, as Lake Zurich (18-10) advanced to its own regional final at 7 p.m. Thursday against No. 2 Buffalo Grove (23-5).
"We did a great job," Bears coach Chris Bennett said of his team's near-flawless third quarter. "We did exactly what we wanted to do. We found exactly what we were trying to find. Barrington's a good team. They got two post players (Megan Talbot and Alex Van Ryne) that can cause trouble, and (No.) 20 (Kelly Katis) is a great guard."
The 6-foot-2 Illinois State-bound Talbot led Barrington (13-14) with 10 points, including two 3-pointers, and 5 rebounds. Abigail Elo (three 3s) and Auri Grayson added 9 points apiece for the Fillies, who went into halftime tied 19-19 thanks to Claire Collier's 3-pointer, her team's third of the quarter and fourth of the half.
"(In the second half), we looked to try to get the ball inside to Megan (Talbot) a little bit more than we were able to do in that first half," Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro said. "I thought in the first half we settled for some outside shots that I didn't think we needed to settle for."
Lake Zurich ran its half-court offense to perfection on its first three possessions of the second half. McKenna Zobel (13 points, 10 rebounds) fed Grace Kinsey (10 points) for a layup, Kinsey dished to Kuehr for another layup, and then Zobel scored in the lane after another Kinsey dish. When Abby Pirron (12 points) sank a pullup 13-footer, the Bears' lead was 27-19 with four minutes gone.
Kuehr capped the 16-0 run by finishing a pass from Pirron with 1:44 to go in the third.
Barrington didn't score until Talbot swished a baseline jumper with seven seconds left. But Kuehr made sure Barrington didn't gain any momentum, as she beat the clock with her 3, the only one the Bears' attempted all night.
"We talked in locker room about just staying patient and they'll give us something and we'll find an open spot," Kuehr said. "I feel we did that. We kept getting the ball in the high post, and then our wings were just diving and we were getting wide-open layups. It just worked. Our momentum got rolling."
"They had a great third quarter," Barreiro said of the Bears. "I thought they beat us to every loose ball, and they beat us to most rebounds tonight, especially in the second half."
Lake Zurich's man-to-man defense has been the key for the Bears all season.
"When we're locked in on defense, I think we can play with anybody," Bennett said. "Obviously our offense is not as good as our defense."