Girls Basketball: Leah Malsom, Wheeling take Libertyville title

Updated: February 16, 2012 10:36PM

Following a lackluster regular season, Wheeling coach Julissa Hernandez reminded her team of one of the most favorable parts of the IHSA playoffs. It’s a chance for any team to start over no matter how meager its record.

The Wildcats took advantage of that second chance once again Thursday night to claim the Libertyville Regional title with a 58-32 rout of Prospect.

“Our coach kept saying that every team’s record is 0-0. It’s a brand new start.

Records don’t matter. Seeds don’t matter,” senior forward Leah Malsom said. “You’ve just got to go out and play to win. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Malsom led the way for Wheeling, the No. 14 seed in the Palatine Sectional, with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman guard Deanna Kuzmanic added 13 points.

The Wildcats (12-18) have two freshmen, a junior and two seniors among their usual starters, and Hernandez said it took a while for that lineup to click.

“I don’t think that during the regular season, we reached our peak. I think, right now, we’re definitely doing it at the right time,” the Wheeling coach said. “I don’t think we had our chemistry earlier in the season. Going through the barriers helped us prepare for what we’re doing now.”

Malsom said that the team’s turnaround began around the start of the new year, and that included a 56-51 upset of the third-seeded hosts Tuesday night. The Wildcats will face another team that pulled off an upset in Monday’s sectional semifinal, No. 6 Warren, which topped No. 2 Rolling Meadows 50-39 in Gurnee on Thursday.

The Wildcats overwhelmed the seventh-seeded Knights early by scoring 30 of the first 40 points, including a 13-3 run to end the first quarter. A 12-5 run to open the final period helped push their advantage to 23 points with 3:40 remaining.

Kellie Kuzmanic contributed five points, seven rebounds and six steals for Wheeling, while Michelle Molini had a team-best nine points for Prospect (16-13).

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.