Prospect handles Buffalo Grove

Prospect's Michele Molini says it's nothing personal, but she sure didn't miss a beat from the first time she played Buffalo Grove this season.

In that game, the junior guard made 6-of-8 3-pointers to finish with a career-high 18 points when Prospect rallied from a 14-5 deficit to win 55-45.

This time, Molini connected on 5-of-5 from long distance and put up a new career-high of 21 points as the Knights posted a 55-36 triumph over the Bison on Wednesday.

Prospect (14-9, 6-1) remained 1 game behind Rolling Meadows (21-3, 7-0) in the Mid-Suburban East while Buffalo Grove slipped to 4-18 and 1-7.

There was one difference from the first game.

This time, the Knights jumped in front 13-0 and never looked back.

"That was the game plan jump out ahead early this time," said Molini's classmate Adriane Falagario.

Molini helped the Knights get that big jump, hitting 3 consecutive 3s for the 13-0 lead with 2:48 left in the first quarter.

"Oh my gosh, she (Molini) hurt us in the first meeting and this time again," said Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle. "We had some lapses where we had to pay more attention to her and she punished us."

Just when the Bison appeared to be getting back into the game, Molini stepped up again.

Senior guard Emily Cho's 3-pointer got BG to within 28-23 to start the second half.

But Molini answered with back-to-back 3 pointers to ignite an 18-2 run that included a 3-point play by Falagario and a perfectly-timed 3-pointer by Christina Brucci at the third-quarter buzzer.

Molini ended up 8-of-9 from the field with 2 assists.

"I don't think it's really a Buffalo Grove thing," said Molini, who also plays shortstop for the varsity softball team. "It's just practicing my shot a lot recently and before the game talking with my coach (Martha Kelly).

"She told me to just go with the flow and do whatever ever feels right at the moment."

Molini felt right on this night and got plenty of help from her teammates.

Freshman Taylor Will chipped in 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

Brucci, who had 3 assists before leaving the game in the final minutes with what Kelly called a bruised knee, and Maura Benson each added 7 points.

Benson pulled down 7 rebounds.

"Michele (Molini) had a very good game offensively and I thought Maura Benson was very good defensively," Kelly said. "Maura is like our rock. She does a lot of things, like communicating, rebounding and getting the girls organized."

Cho led the Bison with 11 points while junior center Bailey North chipped in 6 points and 6 rebounds.

"We got it to five early in the second half, then Molini hit those back-to-back 3-pointers," said Dudle, who received points from nine different players.

But Prospect set the tone in the first minute when senior guard Jessica Petrovski hit a 16-footer from the side to ignite the big 13-0 start.

"I was very proud of our defense (primarily man-to-man)," said Kelly, whose team held BG to 3 points in the first quarter and 5 in the third.

"The girls were aggressive, talking and buying into what we talked about in practice. We came out with a lot of energy to start the first and third quarters, and that's what we wanted to do."