Wheeling claim MSL East title with 61-30 win over Prospect
After 33 years without a division championship in girls basketball, Wheeling now has two in a row.
And, as the Wildcats have been saying all season, they want more than just a Mid-Suburban East crown, which they earned with Tuesday's 61-30 triumph over visiting Prospect.
"This is just one of our goals," said standout senior Ashley Wilson, who scored a game-high 21 points before a crowd that included her future Purdue coach Sharon Versyp. "We are still trying to get back to how we were playing before our loss to (No. 1-ranked) Whitney Young (two weeks ago). Now we want to move on to the conference championship and then the playoffs."
The Wildcats (25-1) clinched the MSL East crown with a 9-0 record while second-place Prospect is 17-7 and 6-3.
It was another dominating performance by the Wildcats, who pulled in front 21-2 after a quarter and were never threatened.
Wilson added 13 rebounds and 3 assists while junior guard Janelle Cannon tossed in 15 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Classmate Bianca Szarfarowicz also reached double figures with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist.
"We know if we have another game like we did against Whitney Young, then we can't go back and start over," Wilson said. "We just have to keep it together the rest of the way."
The Wildcats were clicking on all cylinders whether it was their full-court pressure on defense or their attacking offense, led by Cannon's uncanny floor vision.
The junior whiz dashed to the basket on more than one occasion, including one terrific play in which she went around her back to shake free from her defender and then tossed in a nifty 12-foot scoop which made it 36-5 with 1:26 left in the first half.
The Wildcats allowed just 1 basket in each of the first two quarters.
"I thought Janelle had a good game moving the ball around, whether it was attacking the basket or looking to create," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel. "I thought we did those things well as a team, too."
Tiffany Meier, Stephanie Kuzmanic, Bridgette Gray, Selma Smajlovic and Alix Webber also made it into the scoring column for the state-ranked Wildcats. Katelyn Kozinski, Katy Shaffer and Sarah Hunt were the leaders for the Knights with 4 points each.
"I was very proud of the girls who finished the game for us (Kozinski, Geraghty, Shaffer, Sarah Hunt, Sarah Winans and Alyssa Baker)," said Prospect coach Martha Kelly. "They never let up. They rebounded. They attacked. They were not afraid.
"Katelyn Kozinski did a good job with her shot. Meghan Geraghty had a nice basket. Shaffer was tough. It was a good experience for them going into the state tournament. We're very proud of our fourth seed. The girls worked hard for it."