Knights staying ahead of schedule

Considering its goal was to win 15 or 20 games, Prospect's girls basketball team appears to be on target.

The Knights continued to add to one of the most impressive records in the area, defeating host Maine South 48-44 in a Saturday nonconference matinee.

It was the Knights' 10th win in 11 games and as almost always has been the case, their offense was balanced and unpredictable.

This time, sophomore Sarah Winans and junior Lexi Glennon shared scoring honors with 11 points each while Danielle Brucci added 8 and Alyssa Glennon 5.

"We set a goal to test ourselves and see if we could get to 15, then 20 wins," said Alyssa Glennon, who also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. "So, obviously we're happy at this point with a 10-1 record. I don't know if we expected to have this record but we're happy with it."

The Knights were happy to grab a 7-0 lead as Brucci started out with one of her two 3-pointers, followed by Lexi Glennon's rebound bank shot and Rachel Hunt's 12-footer.

But coach Mark Smith's Hawks (6-6) were up to the challenge.

Despite trailing by as many as 9 points in the second quarter, Maine South battled back and led 36-35 with 1:57 left in third period thanks to a 3-pointer by junior Amanda Brait.

The teams traded a few buckets before Prospect went ahead 44-41 on a pair of free throws by Alyssa Glennon. Two more by Lexi Glennon made t 46-41 with 1:13 left.

"It was a little nerve-wracking," Alyssa Glennon said. "But we're not the type of team that gives up. If they'd make a good play, we'd come back and make up for it on the defensive end the next time."

A 3-pointer by Jackie Rieger (team-high 12 points) brought the Hawks to within 46-44 before Lexi Glennon made 1 of 2 free throws with 33 seconds left for a 47-44 lead.

After Rieger just missed a 3-pointer to tie it with 17 seconds left, Winans hit her first of two throws with 6.1 seconds to seal the win for the Knights.

"I was a little nervous but we work on those pressure free throws all the time in practice," Winans said. "It feels good to start out the way we have (10-1) but we don't want to settle for this. We have a lot of goals we want to reach, and we're trying to push ourselves toward them"

Sophomore Sarah Hunt and junior Rachel Hunt (3 steals, 5 blocked shots) also grabbed 5 rebounds for the Knights.

"We knew this was going to be a tough week with conference game against Hersey and Buffalo Grove," Alyssa Glennon added. "So we had to stay focused and keep the intensity up for this game.'

Smith said his Hawks have been competitive all season.

"We were right there with them (Prospect)," he said. "We've been right there with a lot of teams."

St. Viator 52, St. Joseph 50: Junior Mary Calov hit the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left to lift the Lions (6-3, 3-0) to a third straight win in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Calov, a 5-foot-9 forward, finished with five 3-pointers for a career-high 15 points while also grabbing 7 rebounds.

Susan Hohenadel collected a team-high 17 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The junior guard also took a charge against St. Joseph (5-3, 0-1).

Senior Colleen Nolan contributed 7 points and 8 rebounds while classmate Jamie Blenner chipped in 8 rebounds and 3 points.

Wheeling 60, Fort Zumwalt West (Mo.) 36: Wheeling's state-ranked girls basketball team made the long trip to the state capital and the results were the same as its first nine games in the Chicago suburbs.

Another win.

The Wildcats made it to 10-0 in Springfield as senior Ashley Wilson (20 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists), junior Janelle Cannon (15 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and junior Bianca Szafarowicz (10 points, 3 steals) led the way

"They played really well," said Wildcats coach Shelly Wiegel of the trio of 2007-08 all-area selections. "And Stephanie Kuzmanic (3 assists) and Bridgette Gray (2 assists) were ready to play defense and continued to do a great job on passing and hitting the other players."

Selma Smajlovic and Kellie Kuzmanic provided their usual solid relief for the starters.

Szafarowicz scored off the opening tip with a 3-pointer on an assist from Wilson and the Wildcats sped to an 9-0 lead. They led 18-5 after one quarter.

Gray's bucket on an assist from Stephanie Kuzmanic made it 20-5 and the Wildcats never looked back.

Just like she did against Rolling Meadows two days earlier, Tori Menelle ended the scoring for the Wildcats with a 3-pointer.at the buzzer.

"They (Fort Zumwalt) had a real good 3-point shooter," Wiegel said. "Janelle and Bridgette did a good job defending their outside shooters."

Megan Vanneman led Fort Zumwalt with 10 points, including three 3-pointers.

Fremd 65, South Elgin 51: Fremd rang up a season-high 65 points as the Vikings improved to 7-2 with the nonconference homecourt win.

"We showed up in the first half," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "But we competed much harder in the second half (Vikings outscored the Storm 36-17)."

Gianna Abruzzo and Katie Hetzner each scored 14 points for Fremd while Taylor Glassman added 13 and Sam Thelin 8.

The Vikings were 21-of-27 from the free throw line, led by Abruzzo, who was 10-of-13.

Sweet 16: Hinsdale Central posted a 62-37 victory over Barrington (7-2) in a first-round game of the five-game tourney which runs through the end of January.