Fremd adapts, gets past Libertyville

Dressed in her full Fremd basketball uniform, including a warm-up top over her jersey, Haley Gorecki sat on the bench, head up and ears perked. She even handed her teammates tiny cups of water during a timeout.

"She wanted to play," Vikings coach Dave Yates said of his 6-foot guard. "But we told her, 'If we need it, we'll do it.' "

Fremd never needed its Duke-bound senior in Thursday night's Class 4A Lake Forest regional final. Behind point guard Brianna Lewis' game-high 11 points and a defensive effort that allowed only 7 field goals, the top-seeded Vikings defeated No. 8 Libertyville 45-24.

Yates said Gorecki tweaked her ankle at the end of practice Wednesday. She had scored 30 points in the regional semifinal against Zion-Benton.

"We didn't want to take a risk," Yates said. "We figured we could go without her. We have a very good basketball team. We've got depth."

While Fremd (24-4) advanced to Monday's 7 p.m. Palatine sectional semifinal against the winner of tonight's Carmel regional final between No. 4 Stevenson and No. 5 Buffalo Grove, Libertyville ended its season at 17-12.

The Wildcats found out just before tipoff that Gorecki would not be playing.

"We had to adjust everything we had designed to do," coach Greg Pedersen said. "We had to adjust on the fly. That's OK."

"Everyone had to step up," Lewis said after the Vikings won their fourth regional title in a row. "Everyone had to bring their 'A' game. It was challenging because we had to play a different type of game without her."

Libertyville couldn't take advantage of Gorecki's absent, in part, because the Wildcats shot just 7 of 41 (17 percent) from the floor, missing several close-in shots.

"We needed to play a little bit stronger and finish on some of those shots that we worked hard to get," Pedersen said. "When that doesn't happen, (Fremd) is pretty good at going the other way. They outrebounded us, and they 'out-physicaled' us. They're way more than one player."

Libertyville's problems were both big (the 6-2 trio of Bryana Hopkins, Grace Tworek and Julia Wacker) and small (Lewis). The 5-1 Lewis effectively ran the offense, even though the Vikings also missed several close-range shots. Hopkins, a junior who recently committed to Northwestern, had 8 points and 8 rebounds. Tworek blocked 3 shots in the opening quarter and also finished with 8 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Wacker collected 6 points and 7 rebounds coming off the bench. Erin Lenahan, a 5-10 junior, contributed 8 points and 8 boards as well.

"I think we went out there with a lot of confidence," said Libertyville center Becky Deichl, who had 6 rebounds but was held to a season-low 4 points. "Definitely their length hurt us. We had a pretty tough time getting some shots off and passing up the floor. Even without Gorecki out there, they didn't lose any height."

Riley Weis led Libertyville with 8 points, including two 3-pointers, while Claire Keefe grabbed 9 rebounds. Hannah Heraty's 6 points came on a pair of 3s.

Yates counted 21 layups his team missed against Zion-Benton. That inability to finish at the rim continued against Libertyville, which trailed only 8-7 after one quarter and 17-11 at halftime. The Vikings were just 16-of-53 shooting (30 percent).

"For whatever reason, we struggle to make layups in this gym," Yates said. "I thought we got a lot of good looks. The second half, we put a lot of those down finally."

As for Gorecki - who advanced in the three-point shooting contest "on one leg," Yates said, before the game - she could be ready to play Monday.

"Even though she didn't play tonight, she still supported our team," Lewis said. "She told us we all need to step up. That's a good player."