Girls bowling: Lake Zurich secures NSC championship

Lake Zurich wasn't expected to roll away with the North Suburban Conference girls bowling conference meet for the first time since 2015. But the way the pins fell on Friday it all worked into the Bears' hands.

During the regular season duals, Warren finished first and Lake Zurich was the runner-up with Libertyville third and Warren fourth.

But after rolling six games in the conference meet Friday, Zion-Benton surprised the field and finished first with 4.866 pins. Lake Zurich was second (4,719), Libertyville third (4,707) and Warren fourth (4,611) at Fair Haven Bowl in Mundelein.

It left the overall standings very close and the Bears on top a point ahead of Zion-Benton. Libertyville and Warren were two points back tied for third place.

"They came here and they were all on, every one of our bowlers," Lake Zurich coach Mel Fox said. "We knew what we had to do and did it. The kids came through as a team. It's so exciting. Honestly I didn't think we had it. They've earned it and have been here every day."

Lake Zurich started out strong with games of 891, 749 and 834 for a 2,474 and followed it up with an afternoon set of 2,245.

Zion-Benton bowled well all day posting a 2,566 for the first three and 2,566 over its final three games.

Individually, Anna Ziebell of Waukegan was the top bowler with an 1,130, but she tossed three games over 200 in the morning for a 639 series. Ziebell made school history for Waukegan in its first year of girls bowling.

Haley Czabaj of Lake Zurich finished second 15 pins back with an 1,115. She started the day with a 592 and had a 523 for the last three games with a high game of 210.

"Taking second was a big accomplishment," Czabaj said. "It's my first time practicing and I've worked extremely hard. I've stayed after every practice and practiced on my own on the weekends. It was a really big accomplishment for me."

Brianna Haith of Warren placed fourth (1,066) and Libertyville's Kristine Kropp finished fifth (1,027).