Girls basketball: Carmel edges Libertyville to claim 4A sectional crown

Thanks to their abilities to rally from an eight-point second quarter deficit and then the strength to hold off a furious late charge, second-seeded Carmel joyfully celebrated a hard-fought 38-35 triumph over No. 1 seed Libertyville at the Class 4A Rockford Guilford sectional final Thursday night.

The win marks the program's fourth trip to the round of eight and first since Carmel’s Class 3A state title four years ago.

The Corsairs (24-9) move on to Monday's Dundee-Crown supersectional in Carpentersville where Schaumburg sectional winner Rolling Meadows (21-10) awaits.

The Mustangs beat Fremd 49-42 Thursday to set up a second meeting between the two teams. The Corsairs won the first 43-17 at the Loyola Christmas Tournament back in December.

"We've learned all year that there are both peaks and valleys in games sometimes," Carmel coach Ben Berg said after winning his third sectional.

"We've just got to sustain ourselves. I thought the girls did a great job staying in the moment (and) keeping things at an even keel."

Carmel reeled off eight unanswered points keyed by four of junior guard Grace Booher's 6 points which allowed it to pull within 19-17 at halftime.

The Corsairs gained the lead in the third quarter thanks to a closing 6-0 tear that Maron Bowes finished with a putback that gave them a 27-24 advantage heading into the fourth.

After 6-foot-1 Wildcat junior guard Lily Fisher's putback pulled them within 30-29 early in the final stanza, it would a successful inside drive in the paint by Bowes (7 points, 12 rebounds) that began a 7-0 run that put Carmel ahead 37-29 with 1:22 left.

It was there that Fisher almost single-handedly brought back Libertyville (27-7) by scoring 6 of her game-high 20 points that was topped by a basket that closed the gap to 37-35 with 12 ticks remaining. She then got an opportunity at a game-tying three point attempt after a free throw by Corsair senior guard Josie Hartman, but it clanked off the front rim with a second to go.

Freshman guard Liv Johnson's 8 points paced Carmel as she also pulled down 12 rebounds. Junior guard Maliyah Mayes added 6 points in the victorious effort.

Bowes, a 5-10 senior, cherishes the opportunity to keep playing on Monday.

"All I really wanted was to make a run at state. I didn't want this season to end," Bowes said. "That's been my goal and I'm just so happy that it's with this team."

Wildcats coach Greg Pedersen spoke of how proud he was of his team's strong finish after dealing with early season injuries.

"Tonight was tough (but) where we were in February is a big difference from where we were in November,“ Pedersen said. ”We had some great wins along the way this season, so I'm pretty (happy) with the overall product."