Lake Zurich finishes off Libertyville

Chris Bennett, Lake Zurich's football statistician and head varsity girls basketball coach, knows his numbers.

The stat aficionado shot out this one following the Bears' 46-40 win over host Libertyville on Saturday.

His team had been outscored a collective 86-52 in the fourth quarter this season.

That helped explain this stat: 2-3.

That was Lake Zurich's record - after the Bears lost just six times last season.

Lake Zurich outscored Libertyville 13-7 over the final eight minutes, after the teams were tied 33-33 after three quarters.

"It was nice to finally shut someone down in the fourth quarter," Bears sophomore Dori Darras said.

The victory was huge for the defending North Suburban Conference champions, who would have fallen to 0-2 in the Lake Division. Instead, the Bears pulled even at 1-1, while saddling Libertyville (5-3) with the same divisional record.

"We talked about the need to respond after Tuesday's loss (to Mundelein) because we don't want to get too far behind in the conference standings," Bennett said. "(Starting) 0-2 would have been a killer."

Libertyville, which overcame a sluggish start to lead 12-9 after one quarter and 21-16 at halftime, built a 29-21 lead midway through the third. But Lake Zurich's veterans, including Audrey Bauer (game-high 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals), Gabby Chapa (8 points) and Sarah Stauner (5 points) helped spark a rally by the visitors.

The Bears, who played without starting guard Karlissa Skarb (ankle), also got contributions from reserves Cathryne Spear, Jenna Froehlich, Maisie Cox and Katherine Anderson.

"I thought everybody did a great job," Bennett said. "That was the best game our bench has played all year. Everybody played solid minutes and took care of the basketball."

A seesaw fourth quarter saw Libertyville go up 40-39 on a 3-pointer by Olivia Wilcox (9 points) with 3:12 left, but the Wildcats never scored again, missing several shots down the stretch.

"We didn't look to attack the basket (all game)," said Libertyville coach Kathie Swanson, noting her team shot just 5 free throws compared to Lake Zurich's 26.

Darras' 2 free throws with 2:57 left put Lake Zurich in front, and less than a minute later she banked in a shot.

"We've been doing really bad in the fourth quarter, so we've been trying to stay tough and keep up our intensity," said Darras, who finished with 11 points and 5 rebounds. "We tired them out so their shots were falling short."

Swanson was frustrated from the get-go, after watching her team surrender 3 offensive rebounds on Lake Zurich's first possession.

"That showed me how we were going to play today," Swanson said.

Savannah Trees and Katelynn Jennings led the Wildcats in scoring with 11 points each.

"Libertyville's obviously a solid team," Bennett said. "They have seven kids that can come in and score. They're hard to guard."