Wheeling impresses with another victory

It's now time to pay close attention to that 18-game loser from Wheeling.

Especially how that senior center, Leah Malsom, finishes around the basket.

How fellow senior Kellie Kuzmanic plays an all-around game. And how her younger sister, Deanna Kuzmanic, makes it difficult to press the Wildcats because she handles the ball so well.

The 18-game loser is playing more like a 20-game winner.

Upstart Wheeling is heading to the Palatine sectional. Basically, the 14th seed in the sectional made a mockery out of the Libertyville regional. After stunning third-seed Libertyville on Tuesday night, the Wildcats simply handled a good Prospect club 58-32 to win the regional championship in style.

Now Wheeling heads to the sectional to play Warren on Monday night.

And that's a team that the Wildcats came close to at the Blue Devils Classic at Christmas, before the Wildcats were playing like they are now.

Prospect's Michele Molini hit the game's first bucket from 3-point range and things were tied at 5-5.

Then Wheeling (13-18) went on a 25-5 run and was in command the rest of the way.

Wheeling led at halftime 30-14. Prospect (16-13) simply had no answers for Wheeling's 6-footer Malsom. She hit the Knights for 20 points.

"We've been building toward this and it's coming at a sweet time,'' Malsom said. "It just took awhile for the seniors to work with the younger kids."

The elder Kuzmanic only scored 5 points in this romp but was seemingly all over the court, grabbing 9 rebounds and making 4 steals.

"We've worked hard all season,'' Kuzmanic said. "We wanted to go as far as we could. We are really coming together."

There really is no evidence that this Wheeling team has a losing record. The Wildcats are playing extremely well together and sharing the ball with crisp passes.

In the second quarter, freshman Hannah Dobrowski hit back-to-back 15-footers to extend the Wheeling lead to 17-6. That was followed up by two straight baskets by Malsom; the senior repeated the trick later in the quarter.

Freshman Deanna Kuzmanic closed the second quarter with two long shots, giving the Wildcats a 20-point lead at 30-10.

Wheeling coach Julissa Hernandez saluted the seniors on this team while her team cut down the nets at Libertyville.

"It's leadership and heart,'' Hernandez said. "I don't think we even remember the regular season. Our record is misleading. Going through those losses definitely helped us mentally."

Prospect had one last gasp in the third quarter. Using its favorite weapon, the 3-pointer, Christina Brucci and Molini hit consecutive 3s which pulled the Knights within 16 points at 39-23. Wheeling didn't budge and on a Malsom jumper the lead again grew more than 20 points at 45-23.

Molini's three 3-pointers helped her lead her team with 9 points. Adriane Falagario added 8 points. Deanna Kuzmanic scored 13 points for the regional champion Wildcats.

"This means a lot,'' the senior Kuzmanic said. "We really had the drive inside to do this."