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Sherwood’s persistence helps Prospect past St. Viator

Prospect sophomore Catherine Sherwood said she was getting “a little frustrated” with herself Tuesday night.

The 5-foot-11 forward picked up two quick fouls against visiting St. Viator, was relegated to the bench and could only watch as the Lions fought back from a big early deficit.

“We work all the time in practice on not fouling,” said Sherwood. “I’ve got to improve on that.”

But the sophomore didn’t let the situation get her down. Instead, she got up off the pines and led the way for the Knights in the second half.

Sherwood scored 7 consecutive points in the third quarter to quell a St. Viator rally and lead Prospect to a 53-45 victory at Jean Walker Field House in Mount Prospect.

“Catherine is a terrific offensive player,” said Prospect coach Ashley Graham. “She gets some great looks and she takes the ball hard to the basket.”

The Knights ran out to an early 9-1 lead on the strength of outstanding full-court defensive pressure.

“We like to approach each game with an attacking mentality,” said Graham, “and our press lends itself to that.”

Prospect (7-4) opened up a 12-point second-quarter lead, but St. Viator (5-6), led by Erin Fabbri’s team-high 14 points, closed the gap to 26-18 at halftime.

“Their pressure rattled us a little,” said Lions coach Christina Jost, “but we kept our composure and were able to handle it after a bad start.

“We had couple of nice runs in the second half and I’m proud of our kids — they played hard. But Prospect is a very good team and you’ve got to give credit to them.”

St. Viator opened the third quarter on a 6-point run behind a couple of layups by Justice Johnson and a basket by Michelle Presslak. Then Sherwood took over.

The sophomore scored on a 3-point play and 2 layups on three strong moves in the paint, and just like that Prospect led by 9.

“We have a play where I work the middle and look for the ball,” said Sherwood. “I was able to get the ball and make some post moves that we’ve been working on in practice.”

Prospect sophomore guard Taylor Will hit for 4 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Knights extended the lead. Against St. Viator fought back to close within 48-45 with 30 seconds left as Didi Aburaad sank 2 free throws.

Then Knights guard Adriane Falagario stepped to the forefront. The senior scored all 8 of her points in the final stanza, including 6 clutch foul shots late to seal the game.

Sherwood finished with 12 points, Trisha Benson added 8 while Will had 9 rebounds to go along with her game-high point total.

“This game was all about playing at a high level,” said Falagario. “We try to focus on coming out at the beginning of every quarter and approach the game as if it’s still 0-0.”

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