Z-B hands Libertyville last-second loss
A virus kept Tanya Johnson from coaching her Zion-Benton girls basketball team against Stevenson.
She had no intentions of missing Saturday’s showdown at Libertyville, which, as she figured, turned out to be another thriller between the two North Suburban Conference Lake Division rivals.
“I didn’t want to miss this game, because these are always battles,” said Johnson, whose Zee-Bees dropped a 1-point decision at home to Stevenson on Thursday.
“It didn’t disappoint again today.”
Sam Rodriguez gave her coach quite the antidote, sinking a baseline 17-footer with 4.5 seconds left to lift Zion-Benton to a 38-36 win.
For Libertyville (6-2, 0-1), the heartbreak, while not as painful, was similar to last season, when Zion-Benton (5-2, 1-1) beat the Wildcats in the Class 4A sectional semifinals, after the Zee-Bees lost to them three times during the regular season.
Libertyville entered that game 29-0.
The Wildcats entered the fourth quarter of Saturday’s contest up 35-26.
“We wanted to take it to them and get payback for what they did to us last February,” Libertyville senior guard Alex Haley said. “We got a lead on them in the first half and came out strong in the third quarter, but then that fourth quarter, we got back on our heels and were slowing it down because we knew we had the lead. We can’t do that in those circumstances. We need to keep pushing the ball up the court.”
Libertyville, which was up 19-13 after one quarter with Haley scoring 9 of her 12 points, ran the clock down to perfection at the end of the third. When Olivia Mayer fed Kerry Risley (12 points) for a layup with 3 seconds left, Libertyville was up 9.
But the fourth was all Zion-Benton. Shania Thompson’s steal and layup 10 seconds into the quarter got things going for the Zee-Bees. Octavia Crump (game-high 13 points, 12 rebounds) scooped in a layup, and Rodriguez canned a 3-pointer from the corner.
“Our coach just told us to pick up the intensity, and that’s what we did,” Rodriguez said. “We knew that we eventually had to or we were going to lose the game.”
When Crump put back her own miss with 3:03 left, Zion-Benton had the lead at 36-35.#147;Octavia Crump just provided a lot of energy for this team today,#148; Johnson said.Libertyville kept missing shots, going 0 of 7 from the floor in the fourth while committing 6 turnovers.#147;We lost our composure a little bit,#148; Wildcats coach Kathie Swanson said. #147;I think our inexperience came into play. (Zion-Benton) is a very hyperactive team defensively. They want to get in your face. We haven#146;t played against a team like that yet.#148;The 6-foot Crump and 5-10 Jessica Williams (8 points, 6 boards) helped Zion-Benton control the boards, particularly in the second half. The Zee-Bees were awarded possession after a jump-ball call in the final seconds, and that hustle led to Rodriguez#146;s heroics.With time running down, the sophomore veteran swished a shot that snapped a 36-36 tie.#147;The play was originally for (Crump),#148; said Rodriguez, who scored 7 points. #147;Since I was open, I guess I just had to take it, and I was pretty confident. I was happy that it went in, definitely.#148;Zion-Benton outscored Libertyville 12-1 in the fourth, as the Wildcats got only a free throw by Mayer with 22 seconds left.In the last three quarters, Libertyville got only 4 fields, one by Eileen Knauff in the second and three by Risley in the third.#147;Second half, they were putting a lot of pressure on Alex, and we settled for 5-foot jump shots instead of attacking them at the basket,#148; Swanson said. #147;I thought we left a lot of points off the board by doing that. That played right into their hands.#148;