Girls basketball: Prospect downs Buffalo Grove, wins 1st MSL title
Prospect girls basketball Matt Weber has said all season his team was working toward end-of-the-season goals while going up against one of the toughest schedules in the state. Well, so far, so good.
After seven previous appearances in the Mid-Suburban League championship game, the Knights won their first one, the 53rd edition on Wednesday night at Buffalo Grove High School.
Led by 6-foot freshman Ashley Skelton's career-high 23 points, MSL East champ Prospect (19-10) swept past West champ Buffalo Grove (21-9) in the second half for a 59-43 triumph after trailing by as many as 8 points midway through the second quarter.
Skelton scored 10 straight points for Prospect in the fourth quarter when the Knights put the game away.
"It was really unexpected," Skelton said of her career-high points. "The team played really well. We made a lot of adjustments at halftime to try to prevent them from scoring baskets and to help our offense get going. And it really paid off."
"Ashley did so well," said teammate Alli Linke, the MSL East Player of the Year. "Our game plan with Ashley is for her to catch it at the top of the key and shoot or catch it and drive, beating her defender off the dribble. And she did amazing at that. She also has incredible hang time. When guarded deep in the corner, she can still get up in the air and throw passes across the court."
Last year, Linke started for Prospect's team which lost to Fremd in the title game.
"To win the first one in program history with this group is amazing," said Linke, who also had multiple rebounds, blocked shots, steals and assists.
A 3-pointer by Hannah Weber and two free throws by Litsa Karavitis put the Bison ahead 9-3 less than three minutes into the game. Skelton's steal and layup got the Knights to within 11-10 with 1:41 to go.
BG surged back ahead 17-12 on a short bank shot by Olivia Hill with 1:12 left.
Linke then hit a deep 3-pointer before Weber's scoop bank shot off a rebound gave BG a 19-15 advantage after one period.
A layup by Karavitis gave BG its biggest lead at 23-15 in the second quarter but Prospect gradually clawed its way back. Tess Brenan's 3-pointer started a 17-7 run, with the Knights tying the game at 27-27 on 2 free throws by Linke with 57.4 seconds until half.
Prospect took its first lead at 29-27 on a driving layup by Skelton followed by a 3-pointer from Black (5 points) which made it 32-27 with 10 seconds left. Kayla Dauguird's 3-pointer just before the buzzer made it 32-30 at intermission.
"Give credit to Buffalo Grove," said Prospect coach Matt Weber. "We knew coming in they would come out with a lot of energy with a great atmosphere behind them. They had a great successful season so we knew that they would put pressure on us right away."
Then it was the Knights putting the pressure on BG in the second half.
Prospect took control in the third quarter, using a 10-2 run after BG got within 36-34 on Weber's bucket off an inbounds pass.
The Knights' surge started with a 3-point play by Allison Warnement (9 points), followed by a 3-pointer from Ella Daly (6 points) and a layup by Linke to make it 44-34. After a layup by BG's Annie Sadowski stopped the 8-0 run, Linke answered with her own layup to give Prospect a 46-36 lead heading into the final quarter.
Daly started the fourth quarter with a big 3-pointer and the Knights were rolling. Skelton scored 10 straight points, primarily with drives to the baskets, to give Prospect a 59-37 lead with 2:51 left.
"It just took a while for us to settle into the flow of the game," Weber added. "We made some adjustments at halftime, talking about a few things and I'm proud of the way the girls responded in the second half (outscored BG 27-11).
"Ashley Skelton had a great game. And we knew that was coming. We told her to be super aggressive. She is great at getting to the basket. Sometimes she is overlooked in our offense because we have a lot of great offensive players. So we needed her to step up today and she did that. That's the sign of a good team in that whoever we need to step up for the team does it. And Ashley did it tonight."
BG was led by senior Weber (11 points), sophomore Karavitis (11), sophomore Kayla Dauguird (8) and sophomore Olivia Hill (7).
"We came storming out of the gates," said BG coach Martha Kelly. "I thought we did a great job. I would say that I think we surprised some people. I don't think people were giving us the respect we deserve. I think tonight we showed we are better than people think.
"This is a brand new Bison team. These girls have bought in from day one in terms of what we wanted to do and in changing the culture. The girls are willing to work hard to support each other. The team camaraderie is great and I think in tough moments, it helps them push through because they're doing it together. They're playing for each other."
Kelly is excited for the future of the Bison, who have now appeared in the title games as MSL North, East and West champions.
"We're young," she said. "So our hope is we're back in this game in the next couple of years."