Class 4A sectional final at Barrington
Records: Wheeling 31-1, Lake Zurich 28-6.
Halftime: Wheeling 35, Lake Zurich 24.
Summary: Wheeling hasn’t had much luck in sectional finals in recent years. The Wildcats got to the championship game three of the last four years and lost them all. On Thursday, that all changed.
Wheeling used its quickness on defense that forced 17 Lake Zurich turnovers. On the other end of the court, the Wildcats got balanced scoring, as they had four players in double figures. But perhaps the biggest thing the MSL champs had was a coolness and confidence that wasn’t going to allow the Bears to beat them.
Wheeling had built a 35-22 lead in the second quarter, with senior center Ashley Wilson scoring 10 of her game-high 15 points. But the Bears finally got over their early jitters and bounced back to make it a game. They took off on a 12-1 run to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 36-34 at 2:45 of the third quarter. Wheeling regrouped and scored the final five points of the stanza to take a 41-34 advantage into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Wildcats got down to business.
Bianca Szafarowicz stole Lake Zurich’s inbounds pass to start the quarter and flipped it to Bridgette Gray, who scored at 7:56. Less than a minute later, Szafarowicz tallied, followed by a hoop by Wilson at 6:12, and suddenly the Bears were down 47-34. The Wildcats made it a 21-2 run before the Bears got a meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer.
Top performers: Wheeling — Wilson 15 points, 7 rebounds; Szafarowicz, 12 points; Janelle Cannon 12 points; Stephanie Kuzmanic 12 points. Lake Zurich — Lydia Bauer 13 points, 7 rebounds; Audrey Bauer 12 points.
The bonus: “The steal gave us a lift to start the fourth quarter,” Szafarowicz said. “The three baskets we scored after that gave us a rush of positiveness. Lake Zurich’s run to get back in the game earlier rattled us. But we kept our composure and played our game. Nothing was going to stop us tonight. This is our year.”