Hawks shoot past Knights

Halftime did not stop the surge from a 10-point deficit by the Prospect girls basketball team.

But the Knights' shooting did after they scored 26 seconds into the second half to take a 2-point lead Wednesday night at Jean Walker Field House in Mount Prospect.

From there it was all Maine South as it scored 28 of the next 37 points in a 58-44 nonconference victory.

"We had confidence going into halftime," said Prospect senior Megan Murray, who scored a team-high 10 points. "We thought we could pick up the momentum, but it didn't really happen."

Prospect (7-2) rallied from a 23-13 deficit behind sophomore Rachel Hunt (7 points, 10 rebounds), Danielle Brucci, Murray and Lexi Glennon.

When Alyssa Glennon (8 points, 3 assists) made a nice bounce pass in traffic to Hunt for a layup the Knights had a 29-27 lead.

"Coach (Mark Smith) said good teams go out and duplicate the second half and great teams go out and take it to them," said Maine South senior guard Michelle Tourtillott. "We executed really well.

"We went out there and played really hard and played really aggressively."

Tourtillott, who averages 18 points a game, overcame a jammed finger on her left hand and foul trouble that sidelined her for nearly 14 minutes to score 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting.

Tourtillott, Allison Groessl (12 points) and Karen Solari (12 points) led an 11-point run that put the Hawks (7-2) in command at 38-29.

"I was real proud of the girls and the way they had composure after they lost the lead," Smith said of his team which has lost to state-ranked Wheeling in overtime and Buffalo Grove by 10 points. "Prospect really scrambles (defensively) and they're feisty."

The Hawks were 4-for-6 on 3-pointers after halftime en route to a 55-38 lead with 2:06 left. They shot 52.3 percent (23-for-44) from the field.

"I've got to give them credit," said Prospect coach Martha Kelly. "They knocked down the outside shots … and we were forcing them to shoot the outside shot."

The Knights missed all 6 of their second-half 3-point tries to finish 3-for-15 and shot 34 percent from the field (16-for-47). And it wasn't just any weeknight nonconference game since they're in the Maine South Class 4A sectional.

"We wanted to beat them," Murray said.