Mundelein shuts down Libertyville's 'engine'

Stopping a shooter from fattening up sometimes requires just denying the hand that feeds.

Take Mundelein's girls basketball team, for example.

"(Hannah Walton) did a great job of breaking down our defense," Mustangs guard Kelsey O'Connor said of her team's first meeting this season against Libertyville and its petite, peppy point guard.

After being stunned by Walton and the Wildcats in early December, the Mustangs have earned revenge twice, the latest coming Saturday, as they used balanced scoring, tight defense and dominant rebounding to win 47-29 at Libertyville.

In improving to 18-3 overall and 5-2 in the North Suburban Lake Division, Mundelein held high-scoring Kristy Williams to 4 points.

Which wasn't her season low.

The Mustangs limited her to 2 in a 50-32 win in Mundelein's Christmas tournament. Williams averages nearly 14 points per game.

"Our game plan when we play Libertyville is based around Hannah Walton," Mustangs coach Brian Evans said. "The ball goes through her hands every single possession. Kristy Williams scores a lot of points for them, but we think that Coach Swanson's team runs as (Hannah Walton) runs."

"Well, that's smart," Wildcats coach Kathie Swanson said of Mundelein's strategy, "because Hannah is the engine that makes us run. We didn't always do a good job of helping her out when (Mundelein) would send two or three girls up (to trap). That's something we worked on."

After leading only 10-8 after one quarter, Mundelein outscored Libertyville 15-4 in the second quarter and 6-2 in the third.

Through three quarters, Libertyville (12-8, 5-3) had only 3 field goals - none by Williams.

"The first half we were trying to trap (Walton) after every made basket and trying to make her give the ball up," Evans said. "After every time we scored, we had two people on her, shagging her wherever she went. The second half we figured they'd try to make some adjustments to that so we kind of changed our game plan at halftime. We were just trying to make her beat two people most of the game."

Libertyville committed 16 turnovers and shot only 1 of 14 in the middle quarters, and the Wildcats got few second shots. For the game, Mundelein outrebounded Libertyville 46-27.

Olivia Dunigan had a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds for Mundelein, while Brooke Evans (9 points, 10 boards) just missed one. JJ Sawchuk had 14 points and 7 rebounds. Toni Knar - wearing a makeshift mask after breaking her nose in practice Friday - added 5 points and 5 boards.

And while O'Connor made only 1 shot - a 3-pointer - the point guard was strong again playing defense and running the offense.

While her scoring is down this season after playing shooting guard her junior year, she's still been effective.

O'Connor's assist-to-turnover ratio is an incredible 5.8-to-1, Evans said.

"It's definitely different, different to get used to," O'Connor said of playing the point. "But Toni Knar's really stepped up and taken that spot as our shooter, and with JJ Sawchuk and now that Ally (Hanas) is back (from an injury) we have a lot of shooters."

Libertyville's Maka Stewart scored 6 of her team-high 8 points in the fourth. Sophomore Kaca Savatic, playing her second varsity game, came off the bench to lead the Wildcats in rebounding with 6.

"Rebounding was the bottom line in this game," Swanson said. "(Mundelein) killed us on the boards."