Bears' Girls Bullied By Bulldogs

Outscored 25-11 in the second half, the Bears girls basetball team once again played competitively in the first half of a 44-29 loss to Grant Tuesday night. In fact, even the third quarter went fine, as the Bears were at that point tied at 27-27. But in the fourth quarter, they were outscored 17-2.

“Let me think of something clever to say,” smiled Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett, who has talked repeatedly this season about the need to play solid basketball for four quarters.

“They changed zones and we needed to make adjustments on defense,” said Bennett, referring to the Bulldog’s switch-outs that the Bears weren’t able to overcome.

Karlissa Skarb was back in the starting lineup, and scored the Bear’s first points on a 3-point baseline jumper on the far right side, putting Lake Zurich ahead 3-2. Both teams stayed within a point of each other throughout the first quarter. Skarb scored the next basket as well for Lake Zurich for her fourth and fifth points of the night. That she only had two other points for the rest of the game is probably an indication that she’s still not a hundred percent.

The Bulldog’s junior forward Nicole Swanson also had a pair of field goals in the first quarter, a jumper off of the left side on her own rebound for the first points of the game, and a layup in front of the net that gave Grant a 4-3 lead.

The Bulldogs took an 11-10 lead early in the second half on 3-point baseline jumper by Swanson, but the Bears came right back and grabbed a 14-11 lead when Maisie Cox made a 3-point play after getting fouled by Swanson following a basket. Swanson seemed to be in the middle of things most of the night.

Late in the second quarter, the Bears bumped their lead to 18-15 after Skarb went 2-for-2 from the line. But the Bulldogs reeled off four straight points to take a 19-18 lead into the half.

Senior forward Donnie Taggart started the scoring in the third quarter with a jumper in front of the net, stretching Grant’s lead to 21-18, but a 3-point conversion by Kelsey Dreiling following a hard foul by junior guard Bri Miller tied the score at 21-all. Cathryne Spear picked up two baskets down the stretch on a pair of jumpers in front of the net, and Lake Zurich entered the fourth quarter knotted at 27.

Once again, things took a turn for the worse in the fourth quarter. Taggart started things off for the Bulldogs with a 3-point play to break the tie, followed by Swanson and junior guard Kassie Stimpson each going 2-for-2 from the line, and Grant led 34-27.

A 1-for-2 performance at the line by Taggart was followed by a layup by junior guard Morgan Jahnke. Stimpson added a layup but missed the bonus free throw after getting fouled, and Swanson added another layup after receiving a half-court pass.

After the dust had settled, the Bulldogs had scored 14 unanswered points. Cathryne Spear had the final score, a tip-in following a rebound.

Bears Pause: Karlissa Skarb and Cathryne Spear led Lake Zurich with 7 points each.  Kassie Stimpson led Grant with 14 points, Nicole Swanson had had 10 and Donnie Taggart had 8.

“It was nice to have Karlissa back,” said Bennett of the return of Karlissa Skarb. “She looked tired after a while, though. I probably played her for too long.”

Next Up: 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 11, at home against Stevenson, in the final regular season game, which was rescheduled from last week due to the blizzard. The Bears then play their first tournament game in Zion at 8:10 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 15 against 21-seed Lake Forest. Lake Zurich has the number 12 seed.