Late bucket lifts Lake Zurich

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:50AM

Similar to a broken play in football, Cathryne Spear didn't execute the proper move in the final seconds. But the bottom line was more than adequate: the Lake Zurich High School forward scored the winning bucket in Tuesday's 47-46 decision over visiting Mundelein.

Spear accepted a bounce pass from Dori Darras and converted a layup with two seconds to play. The road to the final hoop took a few twists, however.

"I actually ran the initial play wrong," Spear admitted. "I was supposed to cut to the right and I cut to the middle."

Darras took an inbounds pass from Catherine Anderson and quickly spotted No. 14 cutting to the hoop.

"Dori sees the floor very well," Spear said. "I knew she would find me."

Suddenly, Spear was all alone under the basket.

"I was saying, ‘don't miss. Hit the top of the box,'" Spear related. Bears coach Chris Bennett had a similar view of the winning bucket.

"There was supposed to be a back screen, but we missed it," said Bennett, whose club improved to 9-11, 3-4. "But we executed part two of the play well."

Spear finished the contest with nine points. For most of the evening, the big plays were delivered by Karlissa Skarb (14 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals).

"Kar has been having such good games," Spear noted. "She's so fast; they (defenders) can't keep up with her on the drives."

Darras added 10 points to the cause. More importantly, the 5-foot-11 center held Mundelein's Olivia Dunigan to six points.

"Dori did a great job on Dunigan," Spear said. "We have a help defense, so it was important for all of us to see the ball. Dori fronted Dunigan, and we had her back."

Mundelein (11-11, 2-5) grabbed a 46-45 lead on a rebound basket by Amanda Davis (nine points). But the last-second hoop prevented the visitors from sweeping the Bears this winter.

"We knew that we've gotten a lot better since we played them," said Spear of a 57-43 loss to Mundelein on Nov. 30.

Taylor Davis led the Mustang offense with 14 points.

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