Sawyer, Stevenson handle Lake Zurich
Weird.
Behold the word of the day inside Lake Zurich's main gym, where the Bears hosted Stevenson's Patriots in a girls basketball season opener Saturday afternoon.
Exactly zero fans sat in the bleachers, which essentially matched the temperature outside. Echoes of the bouncing basketball lingered longer than they usually do. Players, coaches, referees, school officials and media folks wore masks.
And the only foe that wore jersey No. 19 was an invisible one: COVID.
"Weird, so weird," Stevenson coach Ashley Graham admitted after her club's 61-50 victory. "No spectators. The setup was also different, with players who weren't in the game at the time having to sit apart from each other behind the benches."
LZ coach Chris Bennett woke up Saturday with a mindset he hadn't had on a Saturday in what felt like forever.
"I thought, 'Hey, I finally have something to do,' " he said, adding Saturday's matchup of North Suburban Conference teams won't count in the conference standings. "This game felt like a game in the summer league. The vibe was weird, but it also was awesome, getting to play a real game for the first time in 11 months.
"Fun. That was fun," Bennett summed.
Patriots junior guard Simone Sawyer appeared to be having a blast, pouring in a game-high 26 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and a pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays in the second half. The 5-foot-10 Sawyer has surpassed 900 career points, Graham noted.
"We had practiced only seven times before today," Graham said. "Watching Simone, early on ... whoa. She played dynamic basketball in practice right away. You could tell how much she enjoyed being out there today. All of our players, the reason they started playing as little girls was for the love of the game. They didn't play basketball to play in front of crowds.
"Playing today," the former Buffalo Grove hoops standout added, "was a gift."
Junior guard Ava Bardic scored 9 of her 15 points from 3-point real estate for the Patriots, who led 32-26 at the break after trailing 15-14 after one quarter. Pats freshman guard Kendell Williams tallied 9 points, and Sawyer and sophomore forward Kate Arne grabbed 5 rebounds apiece.
Bears guard Alayna Soukup performed superbly at both ends of the floor, netting a team-high 19 points and playing smart, tireless defense from start to finish. The 5-foot-9 junior capped the game - a tick before the buzzer - with a layup following her steal. Freshman forward Anna Gilbertson and sophomore guards Emma Baker and Brooke Wahlund each scored 8 points for the Bears. Wahlund snared a game-high 10 boards; classmate Baylie Parks came down with 6.