Girls Bowling and Basketball Remain Unbeaten

Tis the season and the word is out at Libertyville High School. That gifted girls basketball team gave back on Dec. 3. The girls all met at Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake. And they went to work packing meals for hungry children across the world.

Meanwhile, the Libertyville cheerleaders also chipped in. More than 50 toys were collected for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

Girls Bowling

At the start of the season, head coach Lindsey Siegel reported she had one experienced bowler named Laura Polakowski. Now, Siegel didn't mention how good Polakowski was.  On Dec. 6, she showed how easy this game could be. In a win over Zion-Benton, she finished game one with seven strikes in a row. Game two began with four more strikes. That's officially 11 strikes in a row. She had a whopping 652 series aided by games of 224 and 223.  The Wildcats also had help from Ashley Babetch (531 series) and Natalie Zeng (203 game).

In the fifth consecutive win in a row, Libertyville beat Stevenson on Wednesday, 2,372-2,150. Polakowski had a 203 game on the way to a 521 series. Babetch chipped in with a 500 series.

Girls Basketball

These unbeaten Cats had a tough game with Zion-Benton on Tuesday night. It took some late heroics from Savannah Trees to secure a  43-39 victory.

"Zion is a talented team and I knew that this would be a tough match-up,'' said Libertyville coach Kathie Swanson. "I was pleased that we kept our composure in the closing minutes. We took some good punches from them and found a way to stay focused and disciplined when it mattered most. "

Friday night's game with Belvidere provided no drama. It was over almost before it began. Final: Libertyville 67, Belvidere 7.

Boys Basketball

Another unusual score popped up last week. It was the Libertyville boys beating Stevenson 60-31. It seems, Libertyville went to its 1-3-1 defense and that spelled doom for the Patriots.

Head coach Scott Bogumil went to this zone after the Pats had success against his man-to-man defense.

"After getting numerous stops and transition baskets we really broke the game open from there,'' Bogumil said. "Our kids were very active defensively from that point on and it helps to get break away layups. It was just one of those nights and with a very well coached team in Stevenson was very unexpected."

On Friday night, the Wildcats fell in a tough one to Zion-Benton 64-62.

Wrestling

Key pins from Pat Fitzgerald at 119 and Charlie Meyer at 125 were key in the conference win over Warren last Friday.

Other winners that night included Luke Gaeth at 130 (9-3), Pat Regan at 135 (6-2), Kevin Tavakoli at 145 (10-1), Sayad Banifazl at 152 (8-4), Luke Miller at 189 (7-6) and Richard Vachula at 215 (14-6). Libertyille beat Warren 31-18.

"Equally important was the fact that none of the six guys that lost gave up a major decision, a technical fall, or a pin,'' said Libertyville wrestling coach Dale Eggert. "In fact, no one in the 14 matches gave up back points. That's good dual meet wrestling and what was necessary to beat a team as talented as Warren."

Libertyville's non-conference match of the week took place in Yorkville. In attendance that day was defending state champion Minooka. Also Yorkville was a tough club ranked seventh in the state.

The Cats had no trouble with Joliet West (50-13). They also toppled Yorkville (38-21). Only Minooka stopped Libertyville 38-27.

Winning three matches that day were Gaeth, Tavakoli and Vachula.