Girls basketball: Rolling Meadows upsets No. 1 seed Prospect
Explaining how they defeated a team they had lost to by 23 and 11 points during a Mid-Suburban League East season where they finished 3-7, Rolling Meadows players produced the answers as smoothly as they executed their game Tuesday night.
The No. 5-seeded Mustangs (20-10) surprised top-seeded Prospect 55-41 to advance to the championship of the Class 4A Schaumburg sectional against Fremd (26-6) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
"We definitely had to lock into our pregame and then just had to stick to our game plan," said Eastern Illinois pledge Dalia Grandberry, who was locked in from the start and finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds along with a pair of blocked shots. "We watched a lot of film on them and had to take care of their key players."
The Mustangs took care of business once they fell behind 8-2.
A 15-0 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Lizzy Andriano, Abby Ramel and Iris Jordan, lifted Meadows to a 17-8 lead after one period and they never trailed again.
"It's crazy," said Ramel, who poured in game-high 21 points with 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 2 steals. "The biggest thing was just playing for each other."
And now Lizzy Andriano gets to play with her two sisters Anna (junior) and Kate (freshman) for a sectional crown.
"It was awesome," said Lizzy, who helped spark the win with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. "We had a game plan and followed it well. We just believed in ourselves all the way. It might have been the best game we've ever played together."
Prospect (21-11) got back to within 17-13 thanks to Alli Linke's 3-pointer and a layup by Ella Daly off an assist from Allison Warnement with 5:29 left until half.
But Meadows came back with Ramel's driving layup along the baseline, Grandberry's putback and a free throw from Ramel for a 21-13 lead.
Zoe Black's steal led to a layup from Linke to get Prospect to within 4 points. Meadows dug in again and zoomed ahead 27-18 with a driving layup by Ramel and a 3-pointer from Nell Osterhues, who finished with 10 points.
Freshman Ashley Skelton's 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 27-21 at intermission.
Meadows kept the pressure on in the third period, scoring the first 7 points (6-footer by Osterhues, 3-pointer by Osterhues and a layup by Ramel off a steal by Lizzy Andriano) for a 34-21 lead.
Black's 3-pointer closed the deficit to within 35-29 after three quarters and the Knights drew to within 35-31 when she hit a pair of free throws with 7:37 left in the game.
But that's as close as the MSL champs would get.
Meadows went on a game-deciding 8-0 run, capped by Ramel's layup which made it 43-31 with 4:18 left. Prospect never got closer than 11.
"We really struggled getting into an offensive flow," said Knights coach Matt Weber.
"I'm very proud of our seniors. They gave us incredible leadership throughout the season. They accomplished a lot in their four years."
Skelton led Prospect with 13 points followed by Black (12), Linke (9) and Warnement (6).
"Credit Rolling Meadows," Weber added. "They did a great job forcing us into difficulty on offense and they got a ton of second-chance opportunities with offensive rebounds."
Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky praised his players for their dedication in preparing for their biggest win of the season.
"I have so much respect for Matt (Weber) and his team," said Kirkorsky, who guided the Mustangs to back-to-back Class 4A second-place finishes in 2013 and 2014. "They are such a hard team to prepare for. They have weapons all over the court and play an awesome 1-3-1 defense.
"I credit all our kids, all those who played and didn't play. Their attention to detail has been terrific. They just took ownership of everything we've done the last few weeks.
“It's just been all the time we've put in during practice," Ramel said. "It's been all the hard work."