Libertyville dumps Stevenson for 15th straight win

Marianna Morrissey typically is the sixth player for Libertyville and usually comes off the bench. On Tuesday night, she wasn't supposed to be in the starting lineup as the game started.

But Abigail Frea wasn't ready to start with a sore back, so Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen made the switch.

"(Abigail Frea) has had a hurt back for a while and she hurt it a little bit more in the warmups," Morrissey said. "So, the coach asked me to step in to start. We had to work things out before the game started and it was a little bit hectic there."

The junior jumped right in, played the whole game with intensity, contributing with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds. Lauren Huber also had a double-double with all her 11 points in the second half, 10 rebounds and a couple blocked shots. Emily Fisher had a game-high 15 points, 8 boards and 4 steals as Libertyville made it 15 straight victories with a 53-40 victory over Stevenson in a North Suburban Conference girls basketball contest in Libertyville.

"We just had to get riled up and get a good lead at the beginning, so we could carry it through the rest of the game," Morrissey said. "We just had a lot of energy going into the game and were excited to play. I do get playing time in games and I think we have to play together when we didn't have our starting post player. Just work through it and work through our game plan."

Morrissey scored 6 points in the opening quarter, Libertyville (19-4, 9-1) scored the first 11 points before Stevenson (20-7, 6-4) got on the board. The Wildcats led 16-8 after the first and 29-19 at the break.

Stevenson pulled together its scoring and defense in the second half as it was riding an 8-game winning streak. Simone Sawyer scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the third and cut the Wildcats' lead to 36-33 by hitting a 3-pointer with 2:15 left.

But Libertyville responded to hold a 40-35 lead entering the final quarter.

"Libertyville was a good team and there's some things that they exposed on us," Stevenson coach Ashley Graham said. "They have five scorers and their ability to get to the rim. They have some really talented basketball players in the third and fourth quarter that took over being Huber and Fisher. Two really good, sound individual basketball players that offensively are tremendous."

The Wildcats took over in the final 8 minutes and outscored the Patriots 13-5 for the 13-point difference behind the efforts of Fisher and Huber.

"I just saw the team needed me with a spark of energy," Huber said. "We had to pick it up, because we knew that Stevenson was a great team. We knew that they could come back at any second. I just knew to get the boards, the put backs and pass the ball around."

Libertyville hasn't lost at home all season and was ready for the matchup with highly-regarded and rival Stevenson.

"We were excited to play today and get another home 'W', because we haven't lost on our home floor," Pedersen said. "We knew they were a challenge, because they are so athletic and talented. They are so well-coached."

Stevenson's Avery King added 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.