Hononegah shoots down Prospect

During warm-ups on Wednesday night, Prospect's Michele Molini got the feeling.

“My shot felt good,” said the Prospect sophomore guard. “I told my coach (Martha Kelly) I was ready.”

Making her first start in six games, Molini was indeed ready for the third-round game of the 27th annual Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown High School.

She struck for a team-high 17 points and career-high five 3-pointers against Rockton Hononegah.

Unfortunately for the Knights, the girls from the Rockford area were also ready to hit from all sides.

The Lady Indians (14-3) finished with seven 3-pointers, one more than the Knights, and were able to bounce back from a 71-64 loss to Fremd the night before with a 71-53 triumph over the Knights.

“Give them credit, they shot the ball,” said Kelly, whose team (7-7) will face St. Charles North today at 3:30 p.m. for seventh place. “Elizabeth Jordan (junior) and Lindsay Carroll (senior) shot very well. Carroll did a very good job engaging two defenders and dishing the ball off.”

Jordan (12 points) popped in four 3-pointers and Carroll (13 points) had 3.

But they weren't even the top scorer for Hononegah.

Coming off a 28-point performance against Fremd, 5-foot-10 senior power forward Brea Edwards clicked for 30 against the Knights along with 14 rebounds.

“I wasn't happy with our toughness against Fremd,” said 13-year Hononegah coach Randy Wiebel. “We had an outstanding film session (watching Fremd game) where I was real blunt with them. They responded, and I knew they would.”

A 3-pointer by Sarah Winans gave Prospect its first lead at 5-4 and Molini's 3-pointer extended the advantage to 8-5.

Prospect fell behind 21-14 but responded with an 8-4 run to get back to within 25-22 midway through the second period.

That was as close as the Knights got the rest of the first half.

The closest they got in the second half was 38-31 following Molini's second 3-pointer.

Molini hit her final three 3-pointers within a span of three minutes in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we didn't hustle and get back fast enough early in the game,” Molini said. “We weren't ready for their fastbreak. We learned we have to be ready earlier in the game. And we have to start with more energy and not be complacent.”

The Lady Indians were determined to stop Prospect's Sarah's — Winans and Hunt.

“Winans is a great guard and Hunt is very physical inside and she positions herself very well,” said Hononegah coach Randy Wiebel, whose team has taken fourth place twice in the Charger Classic. “They had some other people step up with big shots. We just didn't want Winans or Hunt to beat us.

“You can only take so much away from a team. That's what makes them so good. They are a solid team. They've got other weapons like (Molini).”

Molini also had 2 steals and an assist.

“Michele is a hard-working kid,” Kelly said. “Some kids have to understand that it takes hard work to be the type of player they want to be and Michele knows that.”

Hunt worked hard inside on Hononegah's 6-foot-4 junior center Nicole Smith (4 points). Hunt grabbed a team-high 5 rebounds and tossed in 9 points.

“We definitely got outrebounded (30-13),” Hunt said. “Trying to outrebound our opponent has been our goal in many games. We've got to keep improving in that area. They got too many second chances, which is something we must cut teams down on.

“We also have to be smarter on defense, make better reads and be more unpredictable with our offense.”

Winans finished with 11 points and 7 assists while juniors Christina Brucci and Jessica Petrovski came off the bench and chipped in 4 points apiece.

“I told the girls that if we learn to rebound, we'll be a pretty good team,” Kelly said. “The last time we won the rebounding battle was six games ago against Elk Grove.”

Buffalo Grove 52, Evanston 44: For the first time this season, Buffalo Grove won back-to-back games, and that accomplishment has moved the Bison in today's consolation championship against Mother McAuley at 2 p.m.

Senior guard KC Dunne struck for a season-high 21 points to lead BG (4-9) Wednesday. She also collected 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists while converting 7-of- 8 free throws.

Bison guard Emily Cho chipped in 10 points (8-of-13 free throws) with 4 steals, 3 rebounds and 2 assist.

BG sophomore forward Bailey North added 9 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

While the Bison did not have a 3-pointer, they made 24 of 33 free throws. Senior Andrea DiPrima contributed 7 points against the Wildkits (9-5).

Johnsburg 71, Maine West 62: It was Maine West's highest scoring game of the season but Johnsburg (10-5) was able to better the Warriors' offense.

West (3-13) will face Regina at 9:30 a.m. today for 15th place.

High scorers for the Warriors were freshman Brittany Collins with 23 points and junior Amanda Hoye with 17. Hoye also handed out 5 assists while Collins pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Teammate Megan John chipped in 8 points.

Iowa-bound Melissa Dixon led Johnsburg with 37 points, including three 3-pointers and 10 free throws.

Rolling Meadows 73, Larkin 23: Morgan Keller (15 points), Jennifer Vliet (13), Amanda Gunn (12), Maddie Conlin (12) and Jackie Kemph (11) were top scorers for host Rolling Meadows (10-5) in the nonconference game.