Prospect closing in on a 20-win repeat
Prospect's magical girls basketball season continued on Friday night as the Knights came to within one game of pulling off their first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2004.
The coach of that team, Mike Nocella, happened to be on hand to watch the Knights post a 51-30 victory over visiting Wheeling at the Jean Walker Field House in Mt. Prospect.
Coach Ashley Graham's state-ranked club (19-1, 6-0) retained its hold on first place in the Mid-Suburban East, leading Hersey (16-5, 5-1) by one game.
Knights veterans Taylor Will and Catherine Sherwood led the offense with 21 and 16 points, respectively.
"This is the last stretch of the regular season," said Will, the all-time leading scorer in Prospect history who hit a 3-pointer to start the game. "So we (the seniors) want to appreciate the time we have left."
In little time, the Knights jumped ahead of Wheeling 9-2.
Will's 3-pointer was followed by a layup and free throw by Sherwood and Haley's Will's 3-pointer.
"We put in a new offense and it definitely worked," Taylor Will said. "We had Nikki Matters (3-pointer in the second quarter) down low instead of myself. We were getting some outside shots. Haley had two big 3s in the first half.
Haley Will's second 3-pointer boosted the Prospect lead to 28-17 in the second quarter and Sherwood's driving layup just before the halftime buzzer made it 30-19.
Deanna Kuzmanic led Wheeling (15-6, 2-4) with 16 points while Hailey Dammeier chipped in 7.
"Deanna Kuzmanic is a great player and we tried to throw a lot of people at her," Graham said. "I thought we came out very hard in the first half and really established the tempo early.
"We practiced all week anticipating their zone. We saw some things we had to change from the first time we faced them and I thought the kids did a great job adjusting ."
Wheeling first-year coach Matt Weber said the Wildcats did pretty much they wanted to do defensively.
"But offensively, we did not make enough shots," he said. "We didn't get into a flow. We had some open looks but we didn't capitalize."
Prospect kept the pressure on in the third quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 14-5 as Taylor Will scored 10 of her 21 points in the period.
"I thought defensively we did OK because they have some big weapons," Weber added. "We just need a little more offensive contributors going forward. I thought Lani Greenberg (6-foot-2 senior center) did a nice job coming off the bench. She is getting back into the swing of things from a meniscus tear in her knee."
The Wildcats swing back into action on Monday night when they host Jacobs at 7:30 p.m.
next up for Prospect is a trip to Rolling Meadows on Friday night.
"It's been really great so far," Taylor Will said of the season. "We have a few goals we set at the start of the season. One was to win the East. So far it is setting up well. We must stay focused."