Wheeling surprises Libertyville
Maybe there were whispers behind the scenes before, along the lines that Wheeling had been playing well enough to battle three-time North Suburban Conference champion Libertyville.
But no one came out and said it out loud.
Now, however, the noise is really loud.
Wheeling, the 14th seed in the Palatine sectional, pulled off the big upset on Tuesday night. Kellie Kuzmanic led a balanced attack with 14 points as the Wildcats stunned third-seeded Libertyville 56-51.
Wheeling will meet Prospect for the regional title on Thursday night at Libertyville. The Knights held off Barrington 39-36 in the nightcap.
“We were really excited to play,’’ Kuzmanic said. “It didn’t matter about the seeds. The game went by so fast. Everything is clicking right now.”
Despite their losing record, Wheeling’s Wildcats have actually split a pair of games with Prospect this season.
When Eileen Knauff (9 points) opened the game with a 3-pointer, Libertyville (21-7) looked ready for this contest. It was quickly 6-2. But that was the extent of good news for Libertyville.
When the second Kuzmanic 3-pointer fell through the net, Wheeling was up 12-11 early in the second quarter.
“I knew our record wasn’t good,’’ said Wheeling coach Julissa Hernandez. “We knew Libertyville had a great defense. We are defensively disciplined, but not always disciplined on offense. We were ready to play tonight.”
Clearly, the Wheeling crowd was excited at halftime. Still, the game was knotted at 23-23 at the break.
Libertyville managed to open a few 4-point leads in the third quarter. On a flip shot from Olivia Mayer (9 points), the Libertyville lead was 38-35 with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.
Deanna Kuzmanic (11 points) opened the fourth-quarter scoring for Wheeling. And the Wildcats did not surrender the lead the rest of the way.
Hailey Dammeier had her team’s final field goal of the night at the two-minute mark, and Wheeling salted the game away at the free throw line.
Libertyville’s Alex Haley (9 points) hit a 3-pointer with under a minute to play, cutting the Wheeling lead to 3 at 52-49.
“Everybody played their best game tonight,’’ Kuzmanic said.