Libertyville hands Lake Forest first loss

Margaret Buchert had only one basket to brag about in a wild first half between visiting Lake Forest and Libertyville.

The Wildcats scored the game's first 13 points, and the Scouts answered back with 10 in a row.

The third quarter is when Buchert came out to play. In fact, Libertyville's junior guard dominated the quarter. At quarter's end, she had outscored Lake Forest 11-6 in that eight-minute span.

Here's the play by play: Buchert 3-pointer. Maddie Spaulding free throw. Buchert 3-pointer. Buchert 3-pointer. Lydia Crow 10 footer and 3-pointer. And finally, Buchert finished with a tough bank shot.

Libertyville sank 10 3-pointers after that third quarter and coasted to a 51-34 romp over the previously unbeaten Scouts in the teams' North Suburban Conference opener Tuesday night.

"We really shared the ball tonight," Buchert said. "We wanted to get open shots."

A good sign of what was to come for Libertyville came from sophomore guard Lauren Huber, who hit two 3-pointers right off the bat. Abigail Frea joined in the three-point fun, and when Crow hit the first of four 3-pointers, the first quarter lead was 16-5.

"Most of us have been around the program," said Crow, who hit for a game-high 19 points. "And it's nice to see Margaret play well. She's a great ballplayer who likes to drive and kick the ball out."

To give some credit to Lake Forest (5-1). The Scouts erased most of the Cats' big lead.

"We wanted to answer their scores with our runs," coach Greg Pedersen said after his Wildcats improved to 4-2. "We took a heavyweight punch but answered with more scores."

On the third Crow 3-pointer, the Wildcats lead looked safe at 29-13. Lake Forest pulled within 29-20 at halftime.

After the Buchert show of the third quarter, the Libertyville lead was out of sight at 46-28.

"They shot really well," Lake Forest coach Kyle Wilhelm said. "It was really a game of runs."

Libertyville was content to run the clock out in the fourth quarter. Each team made just one field goal in the final quarter. Halle Douglass of the Scouts led her team in scoring with 16. Nine of those points came at the foul line.

Buchert backed up Crow with 13 points. Frea had all of her 10 points in the first half. Huber also had 8 first-half points.