Libertyville pulls away from Dundee-Crown

Libertyville's girls basketball team keeps passing tests.

The Wildcats had another battle on Monday night, and it was a defensive one against visiting Dundee-Crown of the Fox Valley Conference.

Libertyville captured a 49-32 decision for its 10th win in a row, improving to 14-4. The Wildcats have another test on Wednesday night, when they visit Lake Forest in a battle for first place in the North Suburban Conference.

Dundee-Crown, which dropped to 12-3, was without Hannah Koehlert and Payton Schmidt due to illness, while Gianine Boado missed the game with an ACL injury.

Margaret Buchert led Libertyville with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Emily Fisher added 11 points, and Lauren Huber chipped in 10.

Alyssa Crenshaw led Dundee-Crown with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

"All the credit to Dundee-Crown. They are a really good team," Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen said. "This was a good win for us. We struggled to put the ball in the basket because [Dundee-Crown] put a lid on it. They're a strong defensive team. We finally found a few things that we exploited pretty well in third quarter. That's been our mojo for the last couple of weeks - a third quarter after a halftime adjustment. We're just playing well and we did again in his one."

The Chargers had a 13-11 lead with just over three minutes left in the second quarter, but the Wildcats closed out the half with 7 straight points. Buchert dropped in a 3-pointer, and Fisher followed up with a pair of free throws and a layup for an 18-13 lead at the break.

"In the first half, we were slow and not hitting our shots," Buchert said. "The third quarter was when we raised our intensity. That's when we turned our defense into our offense. We got some steals and started making shots."

Libertyville outscored Dundee-Crown 16-6 in the third to extend its lead to 34-19, as several players hit shots.

"Credit to Libertyville. They played hard for four quarters," Dundee-Crown coach Sarah Miller said. "Definitely at the beginning we felt we could play with them. We weren't able to sustain the full-court offense and defense. When things started not going our way, we went away from what we've been doing to have for a successful season. We don't rely on one superstar. We're a defense-identity team. In the third quarter, a couple of bad decisions and turnovers got to us. We just need players to step up and play together when things aren't going our way."