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Second-half surge lifts Rolling Meadows over Lake Zurich

The scoring flurry started with less than two minutes to play in the Thanksgiving Turkey Thriller held at Lake Zurich on Wednesday night.

Maybe the outcome between visiting Rolling Meadows and Lake Zurich was pretty much decided by that time, but this performance by Meadows reserve Kelsey Nallon was still something to behold.

No one batted an eye when the junior made a driving layup for her first points of the contest. Then she added a 3-pointer and three more drives to the hoop for scores. In all, that was 11 points for No. 11 in 1:26 of the fourth-quarter clock.

"That was crazy,'' said her teammate, Kyra Spiwak.

This battle for third place in this tournament was up for grabs at halftime. Meadows (3-2) led by one basket at 19-17.

And then what happened?

"We talked about coming out strong after halftime,'' said 6-foot senior Hannah Mickey (8 points and 7 rebounds).

The Mustangs blitzed the Bears 17-2 in the third quarter and went home with a 30-point win, 57-27.

"We talked about playing harder on defense,'' said Rolling Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "And we wanted to take some great shots."

As in the first five shots of the second half went into the net for Meadows.

Katherine Nolan had two of those buckets. All-tournament selection Kyra Spiwak, had two of her 9 points in this rally. Megan King landed the first of her 2 3-pointers. And junior Morgan Campagna (6 points, 5 rebounds) also checked in with a score.

Lake Zurich (2-3) scored just once in the third quarter as it suffered through a 1-for-10 shooting effort.

Rachel Kuehr's flip shot prevented the shutout for the entire quarter.

"The game turned when they hit those shots,'' said Lake Zurich coach, Chris Bennett. "From then on, they just blitzed us."

If there was good news for the Bears, it came in the first half.

Sharpshooter Abby Pirron scored all 6 of her team's points in the opening quarter. Sophomore Grace Kinsey scored all of her team-high 9 points in the second quarter.

"We are trying to get her to shoot more,'' Bennett said.

The Mustangs outscored the Bears 38-10 in the second half.

"Our plays started clicking,'' Mickey said. "Our game began to flow. And we showed that everyone on our bench can score."

Kirkorsky has 11 players on his bench and doesn't seem afraid to bring them in at any time.

"For those kids who come off the bench, those are not unimportant minutes to them,'' he said.

Both Mickey and Spiwak earned all-tournament honors. Lake Zurich seniors Pirron and McKenna Zobel were the Bears' selections.

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