Parks' clutch shots help Lake Zurich hand York 1st loss

Lake Zurich senior Baylie Parks says her team still has a long way to go.

"We're excited about the season," said the McKendree University commit. "We're just trying to get better every day. It's good to get wins early in the season."

The Bears' win in Tuesday's Exam Jamm girls basketball event was one of its biggest in the young season.

They beat a team that had only wins in nine previous games.

Led by Parks' game-high 18 points, and 9-of-12 free throws, Lake Zurich posted a 38-35 triumph over York which came into the game at 9-0.

Parks converted 4-of-4 free throws in the game's final 28.9 seconds to propel the hosts to their ninth win in 11 games, including wins over Barrington and Stevenson.

"We work on free throws every day in practice and we always say free throws win games," said Parks, the Bears' 'Player of the Game'. "We have a lot of strong rebounders and rebounded well. We played hard. I'd say we hustled pretty hard and we passed the ball as a team."

And the Bears played defense, holding the Dukes to a season-low.

"Yes defensively, we were locked in," said Bears coach Chris Bennett. "We were just struggling offensively a little bit offensively."

The Bears' Molly Friesen (7 points) and Parks hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give LZ a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

York gained its biggest lead at 22-20 when York's 'Player of the Game' Marian Blass hit a 3-pointer with 3:07 left. Parks' layup tied the game at 22-22 heading into the final quarter.

Lake Zurich took the lead for good at 24-22 on Parks' putback with 5:48 to go in the game.

"We're a good team and we made enough plays in the end," Bennett said. "But man, York plays fast and obviously that trap of theirs gave us a whole lot of trouble. We're kind of still searching for ballhandling after graduating four-year starting point (Lewis guard Alayna Soukup). So that was a fun game. That's why we play these."

After a 17-footer by Stella Kohl tied the game at 24-24 with 5:36 left, Lake Zurich went on a 9-0 run, capped by 2 free throws by Friesen for a 33-24 lead with 2:26 left.

"Baylie has been playing really well," Bennett said. "I thought Avery Cooper (5 points) played real well and Molly hit a couple of big shots. And Brooke always does what she does: she plays great defense and rebounds."

Brooke Wahlund added 5 points for LZ and Anna Gilbertson had 3.

Blass led the Dukes with 15 points, followed by LIzzie Baldridge (9), Hannah Meyers (5). Kohl and Anna Filosa each added 2 points for the Dukes.

"I thought defensively we did a great job," said Dukes coach Brandon Collings. "We got in foul trouble early and throughout the game. If we shoot the ball the way we can, it's a different game."

York had won all its games by at least 11 points.

"This is the first time we've been in a close game and I thought we responded well," Collings said. "I'm proud of them.

"I think we proved that we can take a team that very much outsizes us and we can hang with them," he added. "We didn't get killed on the boards. And a couple of shots we've hit all season didn't go down and we didn't get the transition baskets off our press.

"This is the first time we had adversity. We had foul trouble, balls not bouncing our way. We were a little frantic on offense I thought but we kept our composure. I'm excited now that we had a game where we were challenged and we did well. Moving forward, this is going to be good for us."

Montini 55, Deerfield 49:

Shannon Blacher doesn't need a refresher course on her status on Montini's basketball team.

But Montini coach Shannon Spanos often makes a point not to let her senior guard lose sight of her importance to the Broncos.

"Shannon is that everything player," Spanos said. "She does everything for us, from getting rebounds, running the offense, making big shots and driving to the basket. For her doing all those little things, it just opens up opportunities for everyone else. She's our senior leader. This is her team."

In front a number of college head coaches Tuesday night, Blacher up lived to her reputation as a big-time player, scoring 20 points to power Montini to a 55-49 victory over Deerfield in the one-day, 18-team Exam Jamm at Lake Zurich.

Blacher, a Northern Illinois recruit, showed she belonged among the top players in the state with her sterling performance against the Warriors (10-2). Playing in front of an NIU assistant coach, along with DePaul coach Doug Bruno and assistants from Michigan and Illinois, Blacher was the premier player on the court.

She matched Deerfield's trio of talented guards - sophomores Aubrey Galvan and Nikki Kerstein and senior Lexi Kerstein - by hitting four 3-pointers, including two in a row in a one-minute span in the third quarter to gain momentum of the game. Nikki Kerstein paced the Warriors with 16 points, while Lexi Kerstein poured in 15.

Blacher buried two 3-pointers late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 40-37, then teammate Victoria Matulevicius, who scored 17 points, made back-to-back 3s to close out the quarter for a 43-42 lead.

The Broncos (7-2) pulled ahead behind an aggressive attack, pushing the pace and dominating the boards, especially the offensive boards for second-chance points. The Broncos played the final three quarters without senior forward Eleanor Helm, who suffered a lower leg injury. Sophomore Shea Carver played strong, finishing with nine points to go with solid defense. Carver scored on a lay-in, off a pass from Blacher, to pad Montini's lead to 49-44 amid an 8-0 run early in the fourth.

- Bobby Narang

In other games at Lake Zurich on Tuesday, Libertyville beat Glenbrook South 58-35; Class 4A No. 1 Hersey topped St. Charles North 69-39; Carmel beat Lincoln-Way Central 43-35; Vernon Hills edged Lake Park 51-46, Butler Prep nipped Rolling Meadows 54-53, and Barrington beat Evanston 60-58.

In the final game of the night, Daily Herald No. 1 ranked Fremd (10-0) overcame a 33-18 halftime deficit to top 11-1 Kenwood 53-47.

The game was tied at 47 when Fremd 'Player of the Game' Kace Urlacher (13 points) and her sophomore sister Coco combined to score the game's final 6 points in the last 1:04.

Ella Todd also scored 13 for Fremd while Maddy Fay added 12 and Ellie Thompson 10.

- John Leusch