Clark, Prairie Ridge outlast Conklin, Palatine

When senior guard Katie Conklin tossed in her third 3-pointer of the game, the Palatine girls basketball team found itself in front of visiting Prairie Ridge 30-29 midway through the third quarter.

However, the Wolves answered with their best run of the game.

They outscored the Pirates 18-3 over the next eight minutes and held on for a 53-47 nonconference triumph.

"Any time you can come in and beat Palatine on the road, it's a great win," said Prairie Ridge coach Rob Baker. "That's a good team and they've got a good player in No. 44 (Monica Masini). The game changed when we were finally able to slow her down. When she is doing the things she can do, it was tough for us."

The visitors (6-3) led by as many as 14 points early in the fourth quarter.

Masini's running 6-footer in the lane got the Pirates (3-5) back to within 50-42 with 55.2 seconds left.

The 6-foot-2 senior center hit another short jumper with 35 seconds left that cut the deficit to 51-44.

But the Pirates couldn't get another stop as Alyssa Clark (team-high 19 points) threw a long pass inside to Kirsten Voel-Pel for an easy layup and 53-44 lead.

Conklin's 3-point play, off an inbounds pass, resulted in the game's final points with 7.2 seconds left.

"Katie worked her butt off," said Palatine coach Mark Johnson. "She is getting good looks and knocking down the open shots. She is doing a good job out there."

"We just have to improve on making our easy shots," said Conklin, who finished with a team-high 14 points. "We have to take every shot seriously. And we need to keep up our intensity all the time."

Also reaching double figures for the Pirates were junior Amy Shapiro (12 points) and Masini (12).

"They took me away offensively in the second half," added Conklin, who tossed in a career-high 20 points earlier this season against Dundee-Crown. "But my teammates did a good job of scoring. There is a still lot of time left in this season for us to improve."

Freshman Sydney Rzepka, freshman Tiana Henderson, junior Carrissa Multon and senior Maria Charlier also got into the scoring column for the Pirates.

"We are struggling right now," Johnson said. "We talked (after the game) about taking steps forward to get better. I thought Prairie Ridge played really well. Rob Baker does a really good job with his girls. We just have to continue to get better."