Girls basketball: Libertyville erases Lake Zurich’s 12-point lead, clinches share of NSC title
Lake Zurich came out and steamrolled Libertyville and its 2-3 zone for 21 points in the first nine minutes of Wednesday night’s North Suburban Conference girls basketball showdown.
But the host Wildcats had a pair of 5-foot-4 engines that could get them back in the game defensively in Sophia Cesnovar and Sophia Swanson.
Their aggressiveness at the top of the zone fueled Libertyville’s comeback from a 12-point deficit to a 50-45 victory that clinched a share of the program’s 20th NSC title.
“This is pretty special because we’ve worked so hard for this,” Cesnovar said after the Wildcats won for the 14th time in 15 tries.
“It’s big,” Swanson said after scoring 9 points. “Now we have the best chance to win our conference (outright). We’re in a great spot.”
Lily Fisher (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Elinor Lindal (13 points) led the offense for the Wildcats (19-5, 11-0), who have a 3-game lead with 3 games left on Lake Zurich (17-7, 8-3) and Stevenson (15-10, 8-3).
Getting in position to win it outright Friday at Mundelein wasn’t easy. Leah Gilbertson (15 points) and Molly Friesen (11 points) combined for 15 points as LZ hit 6 of its first 8 shots for a 21-9 lead 6:56 before halftime.
“We came out executing the things we wanted to execute,” said LZ coach Chris Bennett, whose team had won 7 in a row and 12 of 13. “Sometimes we get in little ruts and struggle to get our way out of them.”
It didn’t help that Creighton-bound Avery Cooper (7 points, 5 rebounds) was limited by foul trouble. The increased defensive intensity got the Wildcats within 29-25 at halftime.
LZ shot just 7-for-29 and committed 15 of its 18 turnovers after its hot start.
“We had to get out on their shooters more, cover the middle more and we had to hustle a lot more,” Swanson said.
“Coming into the locker room I thought we had the momentum,” Cesnovar said. “We knew we had to win the first three minutes though. That was key.”
The Wildcats did as Cesnovar hit a 3 and Swanson scored the last 5 points of a 13-3 tear that put them ahead for the first time. They extended it to 46-39 at 3:12 but consecutive 3s by Alex Nowak-Tice (9 points, 7 rebounds) and Layne Nordstrom got LZ within a point at 1:14.
Fisher answered with a drive and blocks from Madison Sears and Fisher preserved the win.
“One thing about this team is the resiliency they have,” said Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen. “This is really satisfying.”