Barrington finishes Prospect, heads to sectional final
Monday night's Class 4A girls basketball sectional semifinal at Libertyville High School ended with two major scoring streaks.
The first was by No. 5-seeded Prospect which used a 12-2 rally to close to within 30-29 when senior guard Lexi Glennon hit a 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the game.
The second surge, a 12-1 blitz to end the game, belonged to Barrington and it resulted in a 42-30 victory that sends the No. 8 Fillies (19-12) into Thursday's championship against the winner of today's 7:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 3 Libertyville and No. 2 Hersey.
The Fillies' big finish was sparked by senior forward Emily Harris's 6 points and huge rebound and steal.
"I felt bad most of the game because I wasn't contributing (due to foul trouble)," said Harris, who is headed to Western Michigan on a volleyball scholarship. "I thought they did a good job double-teaming me. But Brooke (Chandor, also a senior forward) did a great job driving to the basket."
Junior guard Abby Kirchoff (8-of-8 free throws) led the Fillies with a game-high 16 points (10 in the first half) while Harris and Shelby Whigham each added 7.
"I thought Prospect (20-9) played very good defense," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "We did not do a good job spacing the floor. I thought we were a little tight, We looked a little nervous."
The Knights made Barrington fans nervous when they held the Fillies scoreless for the final 5:42 of the third quarter and the first minute of the fourth quarter.
"Our shots just weren't going in," said Harris, who had 4 rebounds. "It was a good thing we had a nice cushion."
The cushion was down to 1 point with Glennon's 3-pointer but the Fillies answered with their big finish.
It started with 2 free throws by Harris with 3:15 left for a 32-29 lead.
A free throw by sophomore Jessica Petrovski cut the margin to 32-30 before Barrington finished with 10 unanswered points, kicked off by Harris' rebound and 3-point play for a 35-30 advantage with 1:45 left.
Harris grabbed another rebound off Prospect's next shot, then sank 2 more free throws for a 37-30 lead.
"Those were huge rebounds by Emily," Barreiro said. "She had a huge one at the end of our game against Wheeling (in the regional championship game), too."
Chandor had a big blocked shot in the final minute Monday and grabbed 4 rebounds with 3 assists in the game.
"When Prospect made its run, we just had to calm down and focus," Chandor said. "We knew all season that we could play like this. Now it's coming together."
"We've been competitive with good teams all season but we just couldn't get over the hump," said Barreiro, who also noted the floor leadership from junior Sarah Mass (3 steals, 3 rebounds). "But now that they've beaten two good teams in a row, I'm so happy for the girls and proud of them."
Prospect coach Martha Kelly was proud of her team's effort, which came without the services of top scorer Sarah Winans (tendon injury).
"We had some adversity to get past," Kelly said. " For example, Sarah (junior point guard) had played every game and been a leader for us on the floor. That was one thing we had to overcome. Against a zone defense, she shoot wells and she takes care of the ball for us."
Glennon and sophomore Maura Benson led the Knights with 9 points apiece while junior Marissa Pettenuzzo added 6.
"Lexi gave us solid dense," Kelly said. "I couldn't ask anything more of her. I thought our younger kids really stepped up. Jessica (Petrovski) played solid defense and Maura Benson did a fantastic job despite limited playing time this season.
"I've got to give Barrington credit. They came out aggressive and took away the pasing lanes from us. One thing that hurt is that we didn't rebound as well as we can."
An off-balance 16-footer by Petrovski gave the Knights their last lead at 13-11 in the second quarter.
But back-to-back 3-pointers by Sam Maasarani and Kirchoff triggered a 9-0 run and the Fillies never trailed again.
"We have a lot of girls returning," Kelly said. "We expect a lot of big things next season."