Girls basketball: Prospect drops wild one vs. Glenbrook South

The Glenbrook South and Prospect girls basketball teams served up a thoroughly delightful Saturday matinee at the Forest View Educational Center.

The two quality teams kept it high drama start to finish in Arlington Heights before the visiting Titans held on to win a 64-62 nail-biter in the nonconference thriller.

Junior Norah Rodgers sank a free throw with 16.1 seconds remaining for the 2-point margin before Prospect (5-5) barely missed a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.

Instead, the girls from Glenview (8-3) came back from their loss at Maine South the night before.

"These Saturday nonconference games, when you have two great teams, can be so much fun," said Titans coach Scott Nemecek. "And this was great. And I tell you that after last night's game where we just really didn't do very well against Maine South. Both playing and coaching wise."

Rodgers did her job on offense, tying her career-high of 18 points with that last free throw for the final point of the game.

"This was one of the funnest games of our season," said Rodgers, the daughter of retired New Trier hall of fame coach Teri Rodgers, who was also a star guard at Libertyville High School. "And I was playing against one of my club teammates (Zoe Black), who's awesome, so that was also really fun. I just love playing with my teammates, especially in this good of a game. It was high intensity and close, which is awesome. Very fun, with lots of ups and downs."

Rodgers hit two of her three 3-pointers in the game's final 3:08 which included a combined five consecutive 3s.

One was by Alli Linke (14 points), who hit her second 3-pointer with 1:48 left to give her team a 58-57 lead.

But GS answered with back-to-back 3s from Rodgers and Riley Des Groseilliers (14 points) to take a 61-57 lead.

A fastbreak layup by Prospect freshman Mia Marling made it 61-59 before 2 free throws by Niki Davorija hiked the lead back to 63-59 with 35.6 seconds.

Freshman McKenna Carroll's free throw got the Knights within 63-61 with 25.7 seconds.

Teammate Allison Warnement's free throw with 20.7 made it 63-62 before Rodgers' final point of the game.

"Credit to Glenbrook South," Prospect coach Matt Weber said. "And Rodgers and Davorija, they shot the ball well tonight."

Davorija is from Springman Middle School (Glenview) which longtime girls basketball fans might recall was the alma mater of Titan great Dana Leonard, who helped lead South to the 1994 Class AA state title as a freshman. Priya Nimmagadda (7 points), Brea Morrison (5), Binney Taylor (2) and Des Groseillers also attended Springman.

Davorija, a sophomore, also scored 18 points.

Prospect was led by Marling's 16 points, followed by Linke (14), Warnement (13), Carroll (8) and junior Ella Daly (7).

"I thought Ella Daly came off the bench and hit some big shots for us." Weber said. "McKenna Carroll had a big steal at the end. This is the third game in a row that Mia Marling scored in double digits. So we just have to continue to get better and learn from what held us back in this game."

Prospect broke on top 7-0 with buckets Marling, a 3-pointer by Warnement and a 6-foot turnaround jumper from Linke. A fastbreak layup by Carroll put Prospect in front 9-4 early but Rodgers scored South's next 6 points, including a 17-footer, to give the visitors a 10-9 lead.

Des Groseilliers's 3-pointer gave South a 13-12 lead but 2 free throws by Marling put the Knights ahead 14-13 after one quarter.

South took the lead when Morrison connected on a 3-pointer with 6:35 left in the second period.

The lead extended to 30-24 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Davorija and Groseilliers.

Prospect got to within 33-30 on a 3-pointer from Warnement before Morridson made a beautiful fake to get around her defender and swish a 12 footer from the baseline just before the buzzer sounded for a 35-30 lead at intermission.

GBS increased its lead to 39-32 to start the second half but Prospect charged back and got to within 39-38 when Warnement made a steal and assisted on a layup by Marling with 3:33 left in the third quarter. Black had a big 3-pointer in the quarter and Linke's 3-pointer just before the buzzer gave Prospect a 45-44 lead heading into the fourth period.

"I thought we battled," Weber said. "They were shooting the ball well in the first half. And basketball is a game of runs. So I thought in the second half we did a good job of battling back and coming back. And then it was just back and forth.

"At the end, I thought they had two huge defensive rebounds that led to six points off kick-out 3-pointers. And that just shows when you're playing good teams and close games, when it gets late, you can't take off any possessions and stuff like that. And unfortunately, they made more plays at the end than us."

Nemecek was proud of how his team bounced back from the 63-46 loss to Maine South.

"I'm very proud of our effort today, especially knowing that last night (Friday) we just kind of really didn't do what we thought we could do," he said. "And we came back today and did it. And we did it against an outstanding team and well-coached team.

"Everybody shrugged off what happened the night before. When things didn't go well today, we dug in and we came right back. And then we, you know, got ahead and of course they brought it back.

"I'm so proud of our girls and their effort. I think our girls coming off the bench did a great job. I thought the bench was loud and enthusiastic. We really sold out today. There's no question about it. We gave everything we could, and we earned it."