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Libertyville passes strategic test with Mundelein

During a suddenly frenzied fourth quarter, Mundelein girls basketball coach Brian Evans turned to one of his assistant coaches.

His mood had changed.

"He was subbing in and out. I was subbing in and out," Evans said excitedly, referring to Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen said. "I said, 'This is fun.' "

Evans hates to lose, mind you, and his Mustangs were losing a game they had never led - and they lost.

Libertyville saw a 19-point second-half lead whittled to three in the final minute, before hanging on for a 53-47 win in a North Suburban Lake Division thriller Tuesday night.

Fun stuff, too, for host Libertyville (8-3, 3-1), which extended its winning streak to five games.

"It was crazy. It was fun, though," said Claire Keefe, who hit 6 of 7 free throws down the stretch for the Wildcats. "I really like playing Mundelein. They're a great team. We had solid 'D' in the first half. Everyone slips. It's going to happen. But we pulled together, we worked hard as a team, we communicated, and we got the game."

Keefe and center Becky Deichl each scored 10 points to lead Libertyville, which survived despite allowing 29 points, including five 3-pointers, in the final quarter. Hannah Heraty added 9 points, while three players - Riley Weis, Maggie Piazzi and Carol Frea - each had 8. Frea came off the bench to grab 5 rebounds, as well.

"Really good minutes for us," Pedersen said of Frea. "She can play inside, and she can play a little bit inside. I thought she gave us a big lift off the bench. She gets a lot of deflections, too."

Pedersen continues to get contributions from all six of his sophomores - Keefe, Weis, Heraty, Frea, Maggie O'Sullivan and Molly Cayce. They combined for 35 points against Mundelein.

"We've all played together as a team since the fifth grade," said Keefe, the only one of her classmates who played on varsity last season. "So we had the chemistry coming into the season."

Mundelein (5-4, 1-3) spotted Libertyville a 13-0 lead to start the game and didn't score until late in the opening quarter when sophomore Rachel Tipperreiter finished an inbounds play.

"We're just physically out of shape, still," said Evans, whose Mustangs shot 1 of 12 in the first quarter and trailed 15-2. "That's why we started so poorly. We're inconsistent right now, and we don't have 'buy-in' quite yet."

Libertyville enjoyed its biggest lead, at 35-16, late in the third after Piazzi scored in the lane.

The Wildcats entered the fourth up 35-18. They still led 41-28 after Frea banked in a runner with 4:28 left. But Natalie Busscher's 2 free throws commenced a 17-9 run. Busscher scored 7 of her game-high 11 points and grabbed 6 of her 10 rebounds in the fourth quarter.

"We just didn't have a lot of energy at the beginning of the game," Busscher said. "We were just slow. I think that comes from our warm-up and our practice. We don't practice as hard as we should, so that becomes our habit (in games)."

When Amy Richards (6 points) sank 2 free throws with 25.9 seconds left, Mundelein's deficit was down to 50-47.

But Keefe hit the first of 2 free throws, and Piazzi made a pair with 13.2 seconds to go to all but ice it for Libertyville.

"We came out focused," Pedersen said. "They really wanted to play this game. To sustain that kind of energy and drive is hard to do, especially for a young team."

Maggie Mahar and Maria DeVito added 8 points each for Mundelein. Both players were scoreless through three quarters, and both sank a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth.

With 8 wins, Libertyville is just 2 shy of its total from last season.

"They definitely are a good team," Mahar said. "I think we underestimated them because of the seniors that they lost last year. They came out strong against us. They're always a good team, and they're always coming out to get us. It's a good rivalry."

Images: Libertyville vs. Mundelein, girls basketball

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