Fine finish pleases Lake Zurich

Lake Zurich girls basketball coach Chris Bennett was all smiles after his Bears defeated host Mundelein 46-34 in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division game on Saturday night.

With the score tied 34-34 midway through the fourth quarter, Lake Zurich scored 12 unanswered points to finish the game. In the final 13 minutes of the game, the visitors held the Mustangs to just 4 points.

"We know that when we can play defense, we win games," said Bennett, whose Bears improved to 7-8 overall and 3-2 in the NSC Lake. "We did a great job on defense the last quarter and a half."

The Mustangs led 28-22 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but Lake Zurich's Elly Daleske sank a jump shot to start a 6-0 run. Lake Zurich led 29-28 at the end of the quarter.

Mundelein's Maria DeVito and Lake Zurich's Frankie Nasca exchanged 3-point shots to tie the game 34-34 midway through the fourth. The Bears then took over. Abby Pirron's layup put the Bears in front.

Daleske led all scorers with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"Elly does a little bit of everything," Bennett said. "She's got a nice 15-foot jump shot, she can score in the post, and she does a nice job of taking the ball to the basket. She's averaging over 10 rebounds per game. She's got a great nose for the ball. She does really simple things and knows how to score."

Daleske liked the tenacity her team showed down the stretch.

"(Mundelein) was playing pretty good. We were just lucky," Daleske said. "We just tried to take it to them and play smart. We didn't force anything. We just tried to make good baskets and shots that were wide open."

Pirron finished with 12 points, while Nasca sank two 3-pointers and finished with 8 points.

Maddie Zazas led Mundelein with 11 points. DeVito finished with 6 points.

"Coming out slow in the third quarter is something that we've carried us with since last year," Zazas said. "I think it hurt us a little bit tonight. Against a team like (Lake Zurich), we can't let mistakes keep us from playing our type of basketball. We let that happen tonight."