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Libertyville 'Rules' the night in win over Warren

Kate Rule along with her twin sister Rachel, both sophomores, are a big part of what is Libertyville's girls basketball team has on the court this season. Kate Rule scored 12 points and had 4 rebounds and Rachel Rule had 3 points, 3 rebounds and a couple of steals in a starting role as Libertyville rolled past visiting Warren 55-26 in the North Suburban Conference opener on Tuesday night.

"Last year, was definitely an experience and I got to learn from so many great players," Kate Rule said, "But, a number of them graduated. Fortunately, there are still a few here like Emily Fisher and Kristina Kotzan. They really helped me learn to play varsity basketball in my first year They've been really supportive and I'm just trying to fill my role. It's to score that way and our team played well. Everyone really contributed in a big way."

Libertyville (4-2) played good team basketball, while Maryland recruit Emily Fisher had a game-high 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals.

"I like that we got strong performances from a lot of different kids," Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen said. "Because everybody knows who our top players are. If other kids step up and play varsity basketball in a way that it excels I believe that we're going to be tough."

Kotzan added 12 points and 4 rebounds for the Wildcats.

Libertyville closed the opening quarter with a 10-2 run and led 13-4. Then the Wildcats went on a 10-5 advantage to extend the lead to 23-9 with 3:30 left in the second quarter. The Wildcats held a 28-16 lead by the break.

Warren (2-4) tried to recover in the third quarter, but made some costly turnovers and was down 43-21 going into the final quarter.

"(Libertyville) was a good team and we're not an intelligent team right now," Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz said. "We need to play smarter and do what we're told. I think we get into some situations and the game starts to get away from us. Then, we start to be individuals and stop playing together. When we play conservative basketball together, we're competitive. But there's too many times that there's scoring droughts, we turn the ball over and we don't run."

The Blue Devils are without starters Zion Levy and Nari Powers, who are both out with knee injuries.

"It does hurt. We were going to count on them for a certain amount of offense," Stanzykiewicz said. "We would've had a better offensive set with dynamic players. When you lose two players, that's 40 percent of your offense. Now you're asking players who were coming off the bench to play starter minutes."

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