Girls basketball: Prospect ends regional drought, eyes bigger goals ahead
For the first time in 11 seasons, Prospect's girls basketball team has the title as regional champions.
"It feels so good," said Knights senior sharpshooter Gina Falls. "It just gives us fuel to keep going."
Falls provided the early fuel for the Knights on Thursday night, hitting three straight 3-pointers to give her No. 2-seeded Knights a 9-6 lead it would never relinquish in a 68-38 triumph over No. 7 Palatine (16-7) in the championship game of the Class 4A Prospect regional.
Prospect (26-7) will face No. 3 Hersey (20-11) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the second semifinal of the Barrington sectional.
"This win shows we deserve this spot," said Falls, who tied her career-high of four 3-pointers in a game and finished with 12 points behind teammate Alli Linke, who fired home a game-high 20 points. "And that we deserve more spots to come in the state run."
"I think we have higher goals than just winning a regional championship," said seventh-year Knights coach Matt Weber. "So we are excited to get back (Friday) after celebrating tonight and get ready for our next game. The girls wanted to be able to do this on their home court and they earned it. They're very unselfish and team oriented."
Falls' three 3-pointers and a pair by Palatine's Elise Martino (team-high 13 points) had the Knights in front 9-6 with under three minutes in the first quarter.
"Gina comes out with a lot of energy and she does the things we ask," Weber said. "She took advantage of her open looks and really kind of started out with the energy that was needed at the time because a lot of us started off a little bit cold."
"I have confidence that my teammates will deliver and then that gives me confidence to deliver," said Falls, also a talented centerfielder for the Prospect softball team. "We did a really good job the whole game swinging the ball around and giving it to each other. I just had the confidence to shoot it and it went in."
Senior Sadie Splinter's steal at half court and sweeping layup made it 13-6 before Palatine got back to within 13-11 with baskets from senior Addyson Dersnah (6 points with two 3-pointers) and two free throws from classmate Halle Onyekonwu (11 points).
Prospect led 17-14 after one period and went ahead 22-16 early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer and rebound layup by Linke with 6:29.
After Martino's steal and layup got the Pirates to within 24-19, Prospect closed the half on an 11-3 run, started by Linke's driving layup and senior Colleen Shute's layup off an assist from junior Allison Warnement. Back-to-back buckets from Linke, including a big sweeping half-circle move from the free throw lane for a bank shot, made it 30-19.
Sophomore Zoe Black (14 points) added a 3-pointer and 15-footer with four seconds left to give the hosts a 35-22 cushion at intermission.
Falls set the tone again in the third quarter starting out with a 3-pointer. Black then went on her own 7-0 run, hitting a 3-pointer along with 2 free throws and a steal and layup to give the Knights a 45-24 advantage less than two minutes in the quarter.
Splinter's 3-pointer and Linke's fake and layup made it 50-24 as the Knights outscored the Pirates 21-8 in the period to lead 56-30 heading into the final eight minutes.
"I'm really proud of our girls," said Palatine coach Sarah Davis. "They played really hard. Our seniors are obviously a core part of this team and their leadership will be missed. But Prospect is a great team and a great program. They have a great coach and they play really hard. We just couldn't dig ourselves out of a hole.They knocked down their shots when they needed to and we couldn't come back from it. Kudos to them."
In all, the Knights had 11 3-pointers, including two from Black and one apiece by Neve Pomis, Splinter, Riley Carroll, Linke and Ally Hendrickson.
"They are a fun group to coach," Weber said. "They work really hard and are very team oriented. Those are the things that pay off at this time of the season."