The goal of this year’s girls' basketball team was simple and unanimous: do better than last year and get past the Sectional round of the playoffs.
The Cats came out of the gates hot to begin the season, winning 29 consecutive games, a school record. They became the first Lake County team (boys or girls) to have an undefeated regular season since 2002.
The Cats even repeated as North Suburban Conference champions, defeating Wauconda in the North Suburban Conference Championship.
The Cats had seemingly done everything right on and off the court throughout the course of the season. Impenetrable defense, fluid ball movement, and solid shooting made the team work like a well-oiled machine. When the playoffs came around, the team first rolled past Deerfield, 61-40. Then they defeated Prospect, 48-32, in the Regional finals, cutting down the nets in the Deerfield gymnasium.
Prior to their Sectional game against the Zion-Benton Zee-Bees, a team that LHS had beaten three times in the regular season, the Cats focused on not allowing their success to get to them. They stayed very humble, something likely due to the veteran leadership of the senior members.
"We didn't want to go into any game thinking that we were already going to win or that we couldn’t be stopped because any team can beat you on any given day," senior Savannah Trees said.
The team had reason to be confident, though. Prior to LHS' first playoff game against Deerfield, they had not allowed their opponents to score forty points in twenty-two consecutive games. In fact, the 30 points per game allowed (on average) as a defense is the best in the history of Libertyville girls basketball.
Sadly, the Cats would not fully achieve the goal that they had worked so hard to accomplish. Against Zion Benton, the team fought admirably and did not let up at anytime, but missed shots and shaky defense crippled the team and ended their season on a very low note.
"It’s difficult to beat a quality team three times, let alone four,” Coach Kathie Swanson said.
The Cats scored a season-low 35 points and allowed 43 points to the Zee Bees, the most allowed since a victory against Maine South in November.
“Our problem early on was missed opportunities,” senior Olivia Wilcox said. “We were passing the ball too much and passing up open shots. Everyone was looking to pass first.”
The game began in the same fashion as many of LHS' other games this season: with the team coming out of the gate slowly. Several missed shots and excellent defense from Zion Benton kept things even. The first quarter ended with an 8-8 score.
The game took a dramatic turn in the second quarter, as the Zee-Bees went on a 10-0 run in the first 3 minutes. Not only were shots not falling for the Cats, but the much taller Zee-Bees were controlling the paint on both ends of the floor.
“We didn't execute well on the defensive end,” Swanson said. “We needed to do a better job of containing penetration on the perimeter. Our help-side defense was often late in stopping the ball, which led to points in the paint."
The Cats scored their first points of the second quarter with 4:27 remaining on the clock, as Kaca Savatic knocked down a jump shot. Successful shot attempts by Kerry Risley and Trees on the next two Libertyville possessions capped off a 6-0 run for the Cats, and cut the Zion lead down to just 4 with 1:26 left in the first half.
The deficit remained the same at halftime.
“We discussed the need to create better ball movement on offense to make their posts have to come out and close out on the perimeter. Unfortunately, we didn't capitalize on that in the second half,” Swanson said.
Trees received her fourth foul midway through the third quarter and was in serious danger of fouling out.
A variety of momentous calls took place throughout the game, but maybe none as difficult to swallow as when Nicole Kruckman was called for a technical foul with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter. She was initially called for a travelling violation, but slammed the ball to the ground afterwards, earning a technical foul. Zion Benton made both free throws and converted a layup on the following possession, creating a four-point swing.
The Cats were outscored 15-9 in the quarter and went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point deficit. Libertyville shot the ball decently throughout the third quarter, though, with baskets by Trees, Alex Haley and Risley.
Both teams played aggressively throughout the course of the game, but the intensity picked up in the fourth quarter. Several hard fouls by Zion Benton had Libertyville slightly shaken up, though there were no notable injuries.
The Zee-Bees would not let up the lead in the fourth quarter, though the Cats attempted some late-game heroics, managing to cut the deficit to just 4 points on an Olivia Wilcox jump shot with 2:30 left in regulation.
Then, following a Zion bucket and an ensuing missed shot, the Zee-Bees leading scorer, Juanita Robinson, decided to give Savatic a piece of her mind, blatantly pushing her to the floor. Robinson merited a technical foul, and Trees converted on both free throws, again bringing the Cats within 4 points with just 1:45 left to play.
After multiple Zion Benton free throws and several missed shots, however, the Zee-Bee lead stretched to 8 points: 43-35. Several more missed shots later, the Cats' unblemished season came to a screeching halt.
Savannah Trees led the Cats in scoring with 15 points. Olivia Wilcox scored 6.
"This is hard to accept. But at the same time, [the team] should be proud of the incredible things they have accomplished over the past two years,” Swanson said. “This group has raised the bar of excellence and will go down as one of the best girls’ basketball teams in LHS history. It was a pleasure to coach them.”
Photo courtesy of Daily Herald