Prospect rallies past Elk Grove
With the help of senior guard Christina Brucci’s artistic fadeaway long-range shots, Prospect’s girls basketball team made Elk Grove’s 7-point lead fade away in the final three minutes Friday night.
The Knights finished with a 12-1 run and escaped with a 44-40 triumph in the Mid-Suburban East girls basketball opener in the Jean Walker Fieldhouse.
Unfortunately for Elk Grove, its leading scorer Diamond Boyd was away from the action in the final three minutes. She picked up her fifth foul with 3:08 left after scoring 15 points.
Brucci finished with a game-high 17 points and 7 rebounds.
“This is the show,” said Knights coach Martha Kelly, pointing toward the 5-foot-5 Brucci after the game. “She was fantastic, both defensively (3 steals) and offensively hitting big shots.”
Sophomore Melissa Solorio (12 points) converted a nifty driving reverse-layup that gave the Grenadiers (2-3, 0-1) a 39-32 lead with 2:20 left.
That’s when junior guard Michele Molini commenced the Knights’ big late run with a 17-footer.
“The main thing is that we do it as a team,” Brucci said. “We need contributions from everyone. It’s not just one person.”
Brucci became the main person when she hit a fadeaway 17-footer from the baseline to cut the deficit to 39-36. Moments later, she hit a 3-pointer from the right side to dramatically tie the game at 39-39 with 1:16 left.
“We knew when Diamond Boyd got her fifth foul, we had to push it for those final three minutes on the clock.” Brucci said. “We knew that was enough time and that we could do it.”
After a free throw by Solorio gave Elk Grove the lead back at 40-39 with 1:02 left, Prospect (5-3, 1-0) forged ahead for good on its next possession.
Junior Adriane Falagario drove the lane and dished off a nice pass to freshman Taylor Will, who calmly sank a 12-footer from the baseline for a 41-40 lead with 46 seconds left.
Elk Grove called a timeout but a traveling call gave the ball back to Prospect. Brucci took over again, making a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left and another one with five seconds to seal the win.
“She’s tough as nails,” Kelly said about Brucci.
“She’s a good player,” said Boyd, whose 10-foot fadeaway jumper gave Elk Grove its biggest lead of the first half at 22-16. “She’s really composed, and really plays under control. And she has a good shot.”
Kelly called Will’s shot a big one as it gave Prospect the lead for good.
“For a freshman that was a big shot,” Kelly said. “All the girls played with so much heart. I was proud of every single one. We fought some adversity.
“With Maura (Benson, who grabbed 8 rebounds) in foul trouble and sitting a lot, Trisha (Benson), Taylor (Will) and Maggie (Chuipek) all came in and did a great job for us.”
Freshman Amber Lindfors pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for Elk Grove while teammate Kelly Naughton chipped in 6 points.
“I think Amber has really played well our last two games (Prospect and Palatine),” said Grens coach Ryan Kirkorsky. “We attacked Prospect’s pressure in the first half. But I thought we were more passive against it in the second half.
“Obviously, when we had the lead we let Prospect hang around too long. And they have a lot of skilled players who can make plays when they need to.”
Jessica Petrovski handed out a team-high 3 assists for Prospect.
“I think our two teams are pretty even,” Boyd said. “Hopefully next time we don’t make so many mistakes. We’ll learn from this and try not to make them next time.”