Gilbertson sends message as Lake Zurich wins
Ella Gilbertson's text message to her AAU basketball teammate promised to be full of humility.
"Nothing harsh," said Gilbertson, smiling.
Two of Lake County's best inside-outside juniors squared off against each other on Friday night, and at the expense of her good friend Halle Douglass, Gilbertson enjoyed one of the best games of her three-year varsity career. Gilbertson's career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds led Lake Zurich to a 51-46 win over Lake Forest in North Suburban Conference action.
Gilbertson was clutch, too, sinking 9 of 9 free throws in the fourth quarter to help Lake Zurich (6-4, 2-2) rally from a six-point deficit with less than five minutes left.
Gilbertson shot 6 of 6 from the floor and went 14 of 16 from the stripe. She even had a steal with 23 seconds to go, was fouled and sank both ends of a 1-and-1. Lake Forest threw a box-and-one defense at the 5-foot-11 Gilbertson with 5-11 Finola Summerville of the Scouts shadowing her.
"We were forcing the ball into her a little bit, but when she finally got her hands on it, she absolutely made plays," said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett, who was honored at halftime of the ensuing boys game for recently recording his 200th win.
Gilbertson said she planned to text Douglass. The two girls have played AAU together with All In Athletics since they were freshmen.
"I knew it was going to be a challenge (playing against her)," Douglass said. "She's a great defender, and it's always hard to play against her. Our whole game plan was to stop her. When we took away her shot, she got to the basket, got fouled, and she did everything right."
Douglass, whose Division-I offers have hit double digits, finished with 8 points. Grace Tirzmalis led Lake Forest (7-3, 2-2) with 14 points, including two 3-pointers, while Summerville had 9 points. Gilbertson, who has no scholarship offers, guarded the 6-2 Douglass, who scored only 1 point in the second half.
"She's great at taking the ball to the basket," Gilbertson said. "We just had to pinch her dribbles. Sometimes she dribbled ahead of me, but I had my teammates behind me. She's a great player, and we just played great defense tonight."
Gilbertson's three-point play with 4:57 left in the fourth, after she converted an offensive rebound, started a 9-0 run that had the Bears up 44-41. Anna Biergans' jumper was part of the run and was knocked down after freshman guard Alayna Soukup (9 points) penetrated and dished. Gilbertson twice sank the front end of a one-and-one (and each time made the second free throw) in the final 38 seconds.
Bennett said Gilbertson is shooting about 85 percent from the line.
"Ever since I was little, my dad and I would just go out and work on my form," Gilbertson said. "It just translated as I grew older."
Lake Zurich outscored Lake Forest 18-11 in the fourth after trailing nearly the entire third quarter.
"We just had to find the open player," Gilbertson said. "In the beginning we were rushing and not looking for the open pass. In the second half we adjusted to their zone defense. We were taking the shots that were open."
It was a welcome victory for Lake Zurich, which lost on its home court to Zion-Benton two nights earlier. The Bears visit Maine West for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.
"(Lake Forest) has been inconsistent, we've been inconsistent, and I thought we both played fairly well tonight," Bennett said. "It came down to a couple of plays at the end. We both made mistakes, we both made good plays, and I think we just made a couple of more good plays in the fourth quarter."