Girls basketball: Marks, Hersey rally past Libertyville in OT
Trailing Libertyville 33-27 entering the final quarter, momentum was definitely not on the Hersey girls basketball team's side Saturday afternoon at the Buffalo Grove Bison Classic Thanksgiving tournament.
But the Huskies took advantage of some untimely free-throw shooting down the stretch by the Wildcats to force a 41-41 deadlock and overtime after sophomore Sadie Marks' rebound basket with 18 seconds left in regulation.
Libertyville (3-1) trailed 47-45 in overtime and had the ball after a turnover by Hersey (3-1) with 22 seconds left in extra session. But the Wildcats turned the ball right back over to the Huskies before Marks (9 of career-high 24 points in fourth quarter) scored off that turnover with 13 seconds to play for a 49-45 lead. Marks added another free throw to seal the 50-45 comeback win.
Libertyville went 0-for-4 from the foul line in the final 1:16 of regulation along with four turnovers in the fourth quarter to keep Hersey's hopes alive.
"I mean it was just all about like grit and determination. Everyone on my team from the bench to me and all the starters stuck with it the entire game, we never gave up, and we never gave in to their pressure and their defense the whole time," said Marks, whose team held an early 10-1 lead before going into halftime tied at 19-19.
"We just went in there (overtime) just to be as solid as we could. We tried no fouls, and it was just about holding them back and chipping away a little bit at a time."
Sophomore Lily Fisher scored 13 of her team-high 21 points in the second half as the Wildcats outscored Hersey 14-8 in the third quarter to take a 33-27 lead.
Senior starters Grace Grabowy and Kiki Craft helped keep the Huskies within striking range the whole way with 9 points apiece while teammate Kate Donovan added 6 points.
"I thought it was a really gritty win for us. Our starters just gutted it out and they did what they needed to do down the stretch," said Hersey coach Courtney Ludois, whose team closes out the tourney against Grayslake Central Saturday at 1 p.m.
"They listened in timeouts, and we got stops when we needed them. One thing we did this game that we haven't been doing is boxing out and making sure the other team didn't get offensive rebounds, and Sadie Marks was huge with 24 points which is by far a career-high."
Senior Sophia Swanson had 8 points for Libertyville followed by teammates Madison Sears with 7 points, Elinor Lindal with 5 points, and Sophia Cesnovar with 4 points.
"It's a learning experience, and we'll just get better from here. It's early in the season and we played like it's early in the season," said Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen, whose team lost four seniors to graduation.
"There's just a couple of things that we can do to make sure we close that game out better than we did. Hersey is going to have a good season, they took advantage of our missed free throws, and their post (Marks) played a great a game."