Girls basketball: Hot-shooting Libertyville turns tables on shorthanded Maine South
After losing to Maine South by 32 points early this season at the Buffalo Grove tournament, host Libertyville was looking to get some respect from the Hawks Saturday night in nonconference girls basketball play.
And the Wildcats got just that as they got everyone involved with some very inspired basketball on their way to a 65-56 victory in the fast-paced game from start to finish.
Maine South (21-9) definitely missed the presence of key starter Katie Barker, who sustained a knee injury Friday night against Deerfield.
But Libertyville (24-5) was on the attack offensively the whole game as they never trailed after taking an early 5-4 lead. The Wildcats led 16-12 after one quarter, 30-27 at halftime, and 48-43 after three quarters with some good shooting throughout the contest.
Libertyville sophomore Lily Fisher had 3 fouls in the first half, but she came back to score 11 of her team-high 17 points in the second half. Seniors Madison Sears (14 points), and Elinor Lindal (13 points, fouled out late) also hit double figures as did teammate Ella Pawelczyk (10 points).
"When you're playing Maine South you have to move the ball to the open person or else you're going to have a turnover, and obviously we were ready to seize the moment tonight," said Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen, whose team only trailed by four points late in the third quarter of the first meeting. "That (first loss to Maine South) taught us a really good lesson about finishing games, and it snowballed last time. We know they're missing Barker and that kid is such a force on defense."
A 3-pointer by Cornell-bound senior Ally Pape cut the lead to 48-46 with 7:55 to play. But a free throw by Sophia Cesnovar (5 points) tied Libertyville's biggest lead at 57-48 with 4:15 remaining as the Hawks never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. Sophia Swanson added 6 points for the Wildcats.
Maine South coach Jeff Hamann is optimistic that Barker will return to the lineup soon. Sophomore Hayden Fahy stepped up with a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Pape (14 points, 4 rebounds, fouled out late) now has 999 career points heading into her next game Tuesday. Asia Kobylarczyk had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals while teammate Emily Currey had 8 points.
"Credit to them. We were missing a three-year starter so that was a tough blow for us, but Libertyville moved the ball extremely well and they took us out of the things that we typically do well defensively," said Hamann. "They were able to find girls in the corners, sometimes on the block off the pick and roll action with Sears as well so they were very good today."
Fisher pointed to a few keys for her squad's better performance against the Hawks this time.
"I just think the first game we weren't prepared for their press and their physicality, it just surprised us and we couldn't fight back from it," Fisher said. "But this game we were prepared, we scouted them a lot, and we just went over everything and we were ready for it."