GIrls Basketball: Stevenson battles back to defeat Lake Zurich

Updated: December 28, 2011 8:04PM

Stevenson overcame an eight-point early, fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Lake Zurich 49-46 Wednesday on the final day of the Suburban Holiday Showcase in Wilmette. With the win, the Patriots (12-5 overall) earned the tournament’s consolation title. This was the second meeting of the season between the North Suburban Lake foes. The Patriots also won the previous contest on Dec. 17.

“We had our moments today,” Stevenson head coach Tom Dineen said. “We had many more good things than bad. We made some mistakes, got behind. But we didn’t give up. We fought back and played an outstanding fourth quarter.”

Senior Katie Batman led Stevenson on Wednesday with 23 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.

Lake Zurich (10-6) led 38-30 after three quarters. But Stevenson’s switch from its usual zone defense to a man-to-man seemed to confuse the Bears, who turned the ball over several times in the fourth. The Patriots capitalized on many of those turnovers.

With Stevenson trailing 46-45 in the final minute, Patriots junior Alexandra Elzinga stole the ball. She fed senior Olivia Whalen, who hit what proved to be the game-winning jumper with 26.5 on the clock.

Batman knocked down a pair or free throws to up the lead to three. Lake Zurich then missed a potential game-tying three pointer at the buzzer.

“We usually do pretty well against man-to-man teams, but the irony is, they go man, and we start turning the ball over,” Lake Zurich head coach Chris Bennett said. “It’s funny how the game works out sometimes. I give them credit, they haven’t played a lot of man this year, but they got up in our faces and made us throw some bad passes and got some turnovers, and it kind of turned the game around for them.”

Senior Dori Darras led Lake Zurich with 12 points. Senior Maisie Cox scored 10, Senior Cathryne Spear had 9 and senior Stephanie Schmid 7.

Stevenson’s Batman and LZ’s Schmid were named to the all-tournament team.

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