Season-opening win for Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich has an experienced girls basketball team for the first time in three years, and the Bears' veteran leadership was evident Wednesday night.
Three-year varsity starter Abby Pirron scored 21 points, and the Bears opened their season with a 62-57 win over host Lakes in a game that was part of the Lake Zurich Thanksgiving tournament.
Returning all-conference player Elly Daleske added 16 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals for Lake Zurich, while fellow senior Rachel Dawson chipped in 13 points and 9 boards.
"I'm happy to see us get a win," coach Chris Bennett said. "We had some nice runs, but we also had silly turnovers and missed layups. We have some things we have to fix if we want to beat other teams. I expect us to be a team-by-committee (scoring-wise) all year long. We were able to get rid of the first-game jitters and go get a 'W.' "
The Bears held a 43-44 advantage entering the final quarter. But Lakes (0-1) closed the gap to 54-51 with just under two minutes remaining in the game when Nicole Denman (7 points) completed a three-point play.
Lake Zurich held on by making its final eight points on free throws.
The Eagles showed some hard grit. They played five sophomores and forced the Bears into 30 turnovers.
"We should be OK. We just have to move our feet and do better," Lakes coach Pete Schneider said. "We had some good stuff out there. We just can't give up 26 free throws. If you take away half of them, you could win the game."
The game featured runs for both teams. The Bears broke away from an 18-18 tie in the second quarter with a 14-4 run to take a 32-22 lead into the break.
Lakes responded in the third quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points. Natalie Iacopetti hit a jumper that tied the game at 32-32 with 3:12 left.
Pirron scored 7 points during an 11-2 run. Included were three straight free throws in the final second that pushed the lead to 42-34.
"We tried to come out of halftime strong, but we let them get back on us a little," Dawson said. "Going into the fourth quarter, we wanted to score and slow things down by making the open layups. We also wanted to play some good defense. I was going to the ball and wanted to get passes to the open shooters."
Iacopetti and Natalie Pawlak led Lakes in scoring with 14 points apiece. Ellie Haviland added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"I was confident that we would do better and we've been working hard in practice," Pawlak said. "We expected some flaws because we're a young team. I think eventually we'll put it all together."