A Tale of Two Mustangs: LZ Boys Lose to Mundelein, While LZ Girls Win

The boys basketball team can take heart that they kept things close in Tuesday night’s 51-42 loss to undefeated Mundelein (7-0, 2-0).

Mirko Grcic scored a team-high 12 points to pace the Bears while also pulling down eight rebounds. The Mustangs' scoring leader was Robert Knar, who also scored 12 points.

Lake Zurich’s Doug Murphy and Jeff O’Brien each scored 11 points, and Murphy added six rebounds. Mundelein’s Cliff Dunigan and Sean O’Brien were good for 11 points as well.

“We played hard but made some mental mistakes on both ends, and Mundelein is a good team, so they capitalized,” said Bears coach Billy Pitcher.

The Bears (2-4, 0-2) kept pace with Mundelein throughout the contest. They were leading the Mustangs 13-11 after the first quarter before falling behind 24-18 at halftime.

With Mundelein up 19-18 with 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Knar nailed a 3-pointer to push the Mustangs' lead to 22-18. Then Dunigan followed up with a layup at the buzzer on the team’s final possession before halftime.

Lake Zurich found themselves down 36-30 after three quarters, but couldn’t get much closer to narrow the 6-point deficit in the final quarter.
 

Bears Pause: Lake Zurich is 0-2 in their division and 0-2 in their conference so far this season. Mundelein is 2-0 in their conference. The Bears won their first game of the year on Nov. 21, defeating Palatine 56-33. They then lost 61-41 to Waubonsie Valley the following day, followed by a 45-37 loss to Deerfield on Nov. 25. They rebounded the next day with a 69-59 victory over Wheaton North. All of these games were part of a season-opening tournament at Palatine.

Next Up: The Bears travel to Libertyville Saturday to take on the Wildcats. The game starts at 5:30 p.m.

The Lake Zurich girls basketball team fared better against their Mundelein counterparts last Saturday, defeating the Mustangs handily, 60-42. The Bears are off to a solid 7-1 start this season, going 2-0 in their division.

The Bears’ Katherine Anderson led her team with 12 points, with six of them coming in the fourth quarter, when Lake Zurich poured it on after playing a close contest through the first three quarters.

Anderson is one of six different players on Lake Zurich to score in double digits so far during this young season, joining teammates Maisie Cox, Dori Darras, Christina Sandstedt, Stephanie Schmid and Cathryne Spear.

Leading 45-39 at the end of the third quarter, the Bears went on a 12-2 run during the final quarter and putting the game out of reach for the Mustangs. With her six fourth quarter points, Anderson was Lake Zurich’s dominant player during the scoring assault against Mundelein.

“She gives us great leadership and has a much-improved shot from last year,” said coach Chris Bennett.

Anderson’s offensive arsenal was on full display during the fourth quarter, as she scored on a spinning layup, a baseline jumper and a pair of all-net free throws.

Bears Pause:  Lake Zurich has been dominant in most of their wins so far this season. They opened with a 52-36 win over Deerfield Nov. 14, followed by a 65-41 victory over Lakes Nov. 16. They beat Cary-Grove 55-30 three days later, before winning 55-50 over Rolling Meadows in their first close contest of the season. After a 62-56 loss to Fremd on Nov. 23, they blew out Johnsburg 57-31 on Nov. 29. On Dec. 1, they defeated Warren 47-32 before their victory over Mundelein.

Next Up: The Bears host Zion-Benton Friday at 6 p.m.