Lake Zurich handles Warren to move on in NSC tourney
The third-seeded Lake Zurich girls basketball team is playing some pretty good basketball at the right time of the season.
Sophomore Baylie Parks led the way with 14 points, junior Alayna Soukup added 12 and freshman Anna Gilbertson chipped in with 10 as the Bears rolled past Warren 61-36 in the quarterfinals of the North Suburban Conference girls basketball tournament Saturday afternoon in Lake Zurich.
The game was tied 11-11 after the contested opening eight minutes.
But Parks dropped down a couple of 3-pointers and another basket, scoring 8 points of a 19-8 second quarter run that put the Bears (7-5) ahead 30-19 at the break and they never looked back.
"With the help of my teammates, we all played well together,' Parks said. "Hitting the shots, I just thought it would help us get the momentum going. Then we focused more on our layups to build the lead."
Parks has been improving her game with other players on the Bears like Soukup.
"Looking up at the older players has helped my game a lot," Parks said. "How they've adjusted from being a freshman to where they are now. It helps to look and them and it helps me."
The Bears followed their game plan and it worked well from the second quarter on and the rest of the way.
"The kids executed some stuff pretty well," Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. "We knocked some 3s (in the second quarter) and we got a couple of fastbreak baskets. Good things happen when you hit a couple of shots."
Lake Zurich has been trying to pull its team-game together and it's starting to work lately.
"Everybody, fought through the nine-month layoff and see what you get after that," Bennett said. "We have a mix of veterans and younger players finding their way. Sometimes we look awkward and sometimes we look good."
The Bears will travel to play at second-seeded Stevenson in the tournament semifinals on Wednesday.
The Blue Devils (4-7) were lead by Caroline Sharpe with 10 points.
Warren finished its conference regular season on Friday with a victory over visiting Waukegan 57-43 before playing its quarterfinal on Saturday. Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz earned his 400th win over his 22-year career Friday.
"It's one of those things that you hear people say, when you make an accomplishment or something like getting 3,000 hits, so many home runs, so many wins or so many goals," Stanczykiewicz said. "In the moment you're like, oh ok that's 400. I'm doing what I've always done, which I'm trying to win basketball games and give players the opportunity to win basketball games. It will be something when I get a quiet moment and I'm not coaching anymore. I'll sit back and go, 'wow 400 wins.' I would never imagine that I would be doing it long enough. At the moment it feels good and when I get a chance to think about it over the spring and summer it will feel better."