Basketball Recap: Maddy Gibbs' Big Game Can't Quite Lead Liberty over Carrollton

If Liberty was feeling good fresh off their 51-19 takedown of Astoria/VIT on Thursday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Liberty Eagles took a 60-54 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Carrollton Hawks. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 238th, while the Hawks are ranked 116th).

Several Eagles players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Maddy Gibbs, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten boards. Gibbs is on a roll when it comes to boards, as she's now pulled down eight or more in the last five games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Claire Obert, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten boards.

Even though they lost, Liberty smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 25 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in six consecutive matchups.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Carrollton to victory, but perhaps none more so than Chloe McAdams, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine boards. Another player making a difference was Lauren Flowers, who went 7 of 17 on her way to 19 points and eight rebounds.

Liberty's loss dropped their record down to 7-5. As for Carrollton, the win (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 10-4.

Liberty will look to defend their home court on January 3, 2025 against Illini West at 7:30 p.m. Liberty has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games. As for Carrollton, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 57-39 victory against Macomb on the 27th.