Just like old times for victorious Prospect

Prospect seniors Christina Brucci and Maura Benson went back in time, and Prospect’s girls basketball team stepped forward.

After a tough 69-49 loss at Rolling Meadows for first place in the Mid-Suburban East on Friday night, the Knights bounced back on Saturday at the 22nd annual McDonald’s Shootout at Willowbrook High School.

Brucci scored a team-high 16 points with 3 assists while Benson posted a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds along with 5 blocked shots, 4 steals and 3 assists as Prospect stopped Oregon-Davis High School of Hamlet, Ind. 53-42.

Prospect improved to 12-9 while the Lady Cats, ranked No. 3 in Indiana’s smallest class (1A), dropped to 12-4.

The B & B girls looked like they were back in their days playing for St. Raymond in Mt. Prospect as they whipped passes back and forth to each other for layups, especially in the second quarter.

Brucci’s nifty bounce to Benson set up an easy layup and a 19-8 lead for Prospect.

“We were even talking about that on the bench,” Brucci said with a smile. “We were saying, ‘This is like at St Raymond.’ ”

“Oh my gosh, it was so much fun,” Benson said. “She always finds me. And I know when I can pass the ball up the court to her (after a rebound) on the fastbreak she’ll get the layup.

“This was a great game for us after the hard loss (Friday night).”

The game went in the Knights’ direction when they reeled off a 13-1 run in the final five minutes of the first quarter.

Senior Jessica Petrovski started the rally with a nifty 10-foot turn-around jumper and it ended on a 16-foot swish from near the elbow by Adrianne Falagario to give Prospect a 17-5 cushion after one quarter.

“We knew the first quarter was the most important for us,” Brucci said. “Because if we win that, it sets the tone.”

Knights coach Martha Kelly liked how Brucci set the tone with her aggressiveness.

“Christina was very physical and does a great job dealing with contact” Kelly said. “I’ve told her when she drives into the paint, only good things happen.”

Kelly also got good things from her other starters. Freshman Taylor Will, who made her third start after a career-high 23 the night before, chipped in 6 points with 2 assists.

Michele Molini grabbed 3 rebounds with her 4 points while Petrovski added 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Falagario had 7 points, 3 rebounds and an assist.

“Jessica had a nice game and Adrianne was aggressive and saw the floor well,” Kelly added. “Honestly, they (Oregon-Davis) were putting pressure on us and changing defenses but I thought our girls handled it well in the first half.

“We were seeing the floor well and getting good looks. You could see that by Christina getting those shots and creating them by dishing off to Maura. I told Christina I’d like to see more of that.”

The Knights saw an Oregon-Davis team that also likes to run the floor.

“They weren’t bad at all,” Brucci said. “They pushed the ball up the floor. But we were used to it because Rolling Meadows did that to us the night before. They (Oregon-Davis) were really scrappy. Overall, we just played as a team.”

And Kelly got to play everyone on her team.

Eight different Knights scored, including Catherine Sherwood and Blaire Pritchard from off the bench.

Maggie Chuipek grabbed 3 rebounds and Trisha Benson and Katrina Leeney each had one.

Prospect’s biggest lead came with 7:26 left in the game when Pritchard hit a layup to make it 51-25.

Ashley Campbell, a 5-foot-5 sophomore guard who scored 9 of the Lady Cats 17 points in the fourth quarter, finished with a game-high 23 points. She averages 17.

“Prospect is a good team,” said Lady Cats coach Terry Minix. “They are a fundamentally nice team with good size and good shooters.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well (24 percent) and their size hurt us.”

Prospect shot 47 percent from the floor as Brucci was 7-for-10 and Petrovski 3-of-4.

“I’m very proud of the girls,” Kelly said. “They didn’t let Friday night affect them. They were still believing in themselves against a very good team. They didn’t shoot well (Friday) but they did this game. They came out with renewed energy.”