Benson, Prospect top St. Ignatius
Prospect girls basketball coach Martha Kelly provided junior Maura Benson with her first start since Dec. 4, when she pulled down 14 rebounds against St. Viator.
Benson took full advantage of her second career start Saturday morning at the McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook High School.
This time, the 6-foot junior forward pulled down 19 rebounds, blocked 8 shots and scored 6 points as Prospect posted a 47-36 triumph over St. Ignatius.
"I am so proud of Maura" said Kelly, whose team evened its record at 10-10. "We have been working with her at practice on hitting on rebounds and then finding the ball. She is a good rebounder and is so athletic, but she had been relying on just jumping.
"Maura is so coachable. She has been buying in to what we have been teaching her. She was hitting today, getting good position and it paid off."
Senior guard Sarah Winans (7 rebounds) hit for a game-high 20 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter when she made 6-of-6 free throws.
Senior center Sarah Hunt recorded her second double-double of the season with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Hunt also took a key charging foul in the fourth quarter when the Knights limited the Wolfpack to 4 points.
St. Ignatius led 27-20 at intermission but was held to 1 field goal in each of the final to periods.
"We talked to the girls at halftime about chipping away at the lead a little at a time," Kelly said.
Prospect trailed by only 2 points heading into the fourth quarter.
"I truly believe we are a good team," Kelly added. "When we do the little things and show a little grit, we are a tough team to beat. Maura (Benson) did a great job. She was a great spark for us.
"I am most proud of how we fought in the second half, especially after having a few bad second halves in our last three games."
Marist 56, Barrington 39: Barrington senior Abby Kirchoff continued her hot hand Saturday in Chicago, registering a game-high 21 points with 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot and 1 assist in the Sweet 16 game.
"I give Abby a lot of credit," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "Game after game, she has been coming back with real good performances."
Kirchoff has scored 18 or more points in four of the Fillies' last five games.
"She has not only been scoring but distributing the ball well and getting steals," Barreiro said. "She has played real well as of late."
Kirchoff had 20 points in the Fillies' big Mid-Suburban West win over Hoffman Estates on Friday night.
"For as well as we shot in that game (47 percent in a 56-41 win), we were kind of on the opposite side this game," Barreiro said. "Marist (16-4) is an excellent team."
Barrington (14-7) jumped ahead 10-3.
"We came out really fired up," Barreiro said. "Then they went on a run and we made some errant passes. They have some great athletes and they have more than one player you have to concentrate on.
"Kiersten Tinkoff played a lot of minutes and really gutted it out inside for us. Lizzie Deuel gave us some good minutes off the bench, too."
Cary-Grove 58, Buffalo Grove 35: Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert wouldn't reveal what he said to his team at halftime.
Whatever Saffert's words of wisdom were, the tactics worked.
Holding a 1-point 24-23 lead at halftime, the Trojans outscored Buffalo Grove 34-12 during the final 16 minutes and cruised to a 58-35 nonconference win over the Bison in Cary on Saturday afternoon.
"I can't say what I said at halftime," said Saffert. "But I was not with the happy with the way we played offensively or defensively in the first half. We had some breakdowns on both sides. In the second half, we were more patient on offense and played with greater intensity on defense."
The Trojans (17-3) rectified their issues at intermission and came out and blitzed the Bison with a 12-1 run during a five-minute and 22-second span to open the second half. Cary-Grove, which made 5 of its first 6 shots, got 6 points from Claire Jakubicek, a 3-pointer from Johanna Geegan and a layup from Olivia Jakubicek as the Trojans turned a 1-point lead in a 12-point 36-24 advantage with 2:38 left in the third quarter. The Trojans forced 5 Bison (8-12) miscues and turned 4 into layups during the pivotal run.
The Bison didn't score their first basket of the second half until 1:45 remained in the quarter on a 12-footer in the lane by KC Dunne to pull the Bison within 10 at 36-26.
"Coach (Saffert) was not happy at halftime and he let us know it," said Claire Jakubicek. "We didn't play hard enough and had way too many turnovers. We were on the same page in the second half and played with a lot more intensity."
Buffalo Grove did get within 8 of the Trojans 41-33 when Emily Cho hit a free throw with 7:22 remaining in the game. That was as close as the visitors would get.
Claire Jakubicek led the Trojans with 24 points. Nicholson, Paige Lincicum and Geegan scored 8 apiece for the winners.
Buffalo Grove, which committed 35 turnovers, was led by Dunne with 12.
"We had too many turnovers," said Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle. "A lot of those turnovers were unforced. We had a lot of turnovers (17) in the first half and were still in the game. We didn't handle their pressure well and didn't play a consistent game.
"Jakubicek (Claire) is the total package. She can beat you inside or outside."
Dave Hess
Huntley 56, Wheeling 45: Junior forward Kellie Kuzmanic (18 points) and senior guard Kelsey Maczko (15 points, three 3-pointers) were top scorers for host Wheeling (3-18) in the nonconference match.