LAKE ZURICH, IL. – Free throws matter. It’s that simple. Sure, they may only be worth a point each, but when it’s all said and done, they can be the difference between winning and losing a tightly-contested game. Unfortunately, for the Lake Forest Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team (7-3, 2-2), they learned the hard truth of missed opportunities from the charity-stripe in Friday night’s 51-46 loss to Lake Zurich (6-5, 2-2) on the road.

The game started off in favor of the visiting team, with the Scouts jumping to an early 11-6 lead by the end of the first quarter of play. Lake Zurich bounced back with a strong showing of their own in the ensuing quarter, narrowing the deficit to just two as the Bears trailed coach Kyle Wilhelm’s unit 23-21 at the end of the break.

The second half saw two teams unable to pull ahead of the other with the Scouts and the Bears seemingly exchanging baskets for the duration of the third. The fourth quarter was a different story as Lake Zurich used the Scouts’ missed chances from the free throw line to claw their way to victory.

All things considered, Friday night was far from the Scouts’ best outing on the year. On the offensive end, shots weren’t falling, and Wilhem’s group capped off the night with an overall shaky shooting performance, going 17-59 (29%) from the field. The Scouts’ inconsistency from the foul-line continued as the team connected on only 6-14 (43%) of their chances. Senior Grace Tirzmalis and sophomore Finola Summerville led the team in scoring, totalling 14 and 9 points respectively.

The Scouts’ next matchup isn’t going to get any easier as the team travels to Chicago this Tuesday to take on Mother McAuley, the #1 ranked team in the state, and 20th in the nation according to MaxPreps. Head coach Kyle Wilhelm and Co. will need to play their best ball of the year to pull off a statement win on the road against one of the top tier girls’ varsity basketball programs in the country.