Sixth sense kicks in as Libertyville tops Conant

After Conant canned six 3-pointers in the first half, Libertyville's girls basketball team deep-sixed its defensive game plan.

"Coming in, we focused on help because we knew with the way they ran their offense they could get some lobs and backdoor cuts," Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen said of the Cougars. "We wanted to shut that down and make them shoot well. And then they shot well."

And then Libertyville defended well. The Wildcats had to "reboot," Pedersen said.

Forget about giving up another six 3s. With its focus on guarding the perimeter, Libertyville yielded just 6 points, total, after halftime and cruised to a 46-26 win in the championship game of the final Mundelein Holiday Tournament.

"They figured out we're all guards and we all want to shoot the ball," Conant all-tournament guard Jorie Wachal said after scoring a game-high 13 points, including three 3-pointers in the first half. "They just stopped that game."

Despite getting burned by Conant's deep shots, Libertyville was up 25-20 at the half.

"If anything, we got more fired up in the locker room," Libertyville forward Claire Keefe said. "We were like, 'We got this. The score is showing it. We just have to lock down on defense.' Closeouts were our focus the second half. I think it showed."

Riley Weis and Caroline Free each scored 10 points and Keefe added eight to pace Libertyville (8-7), which is over .500 for the first time this season. The Wildcats started the season 1-4.

"We just decided one practice what our goals are for the season," said Weis, who along with Keefe was named to the all-tournament team. "We just focused on being one unit and playing as a team. We really worked hard on coming out strong in those first three minutes of the first half and second half. I thought we did that this tournament."

Libertyville, in fact, held three of its four opponents in the tourney to fewer than 30 points.

"Our defense has improved," Pedersen said. "We've been working on closeouts and guarding the ball all year, but the key for us is rebounding. If we give up 2 shots on each possession, we're going to lose our games. We challenged our bigs and especially our guards to get more physical, and they've responded really well in the last couple of weeks."

Conant (6-9, 3-1 tourney) shot 6 of 14 from beyond the arc and 0 of 5 from two-point range in the first half. After halftime, however, the Cougars got off only 5 shots from three-point range, making one (by Karli Heneghan).

"They play so hard on defense," Conant coach Deirdre Naughton said of the Wildcats. "They don't take a possession off. Even their post players can guard a guard. They can guard in the post and they can guard on the outside. They've got a lot of weapons, both offensively and defensively."

Three-pointers by Weis and Molly Cayce (6 points on two 3s) helped Libertyville start the second half with a 12-2 run. The Wildcats outscored the Cougars 12-3 in the third quarter and 9-3 in the fourth.

Conant couldn't be too disappointed even with the loss, however. The Cougars came into the tournament off a tough loss to Fremd, then won three straight to reach the title game.

"(The tournament) was a good confidence-booster for us," Wachal said. "Getting three wins in a row is a big thing for us."