Girls basketball: Prospect’s trio too much for Fremd
Although she is unsure where she will attend college, Allison Warnement says she wants to study finance.
Prospect's girls basketball team has been able to bank on Warnement, fellow senior Alli Linke and junior Zoe Black all season and Tuesday night at Fremd was no different.
Black scored a team-high 17 points while Linke had 13 and Warnement 11 as Prospect held on for a 56-48 victory over the host Vikings.
That means the championship for the Mid-Suburban East will be decided Friday night at the Jean Walker Field House in Mt. Prospect when Hersey (17-6) visits with an identical 8-1 divisional record as Prospect (16-10).
"We're excited for it," said Prospect coach Matt Weber, whose team won at Hersey, 46-36, on Jan. 9. "We just wanted the opportunity to control our own destiny and be in that game, and we're excited to play Hersey again."
Warnement's third 3-pointer gave Prospect a 42-26 lead with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Fremd (20-6, 6-3) rallied and got as close as 42-40 on a 3-pointer by senior guard Sophia McMillan and free throw from classmate Greta Thompson with 3:40 left in the game.
But Prospect was able to close it out, converting 10-of-10 free throws (the first two were by freshman Ashley Skelton) the rest of the way and getting a fastbreak layup from junior guard Ella Daly (10 points) which made it 54-46 with 21 seconds left.
"I think the biggest key was our calm defense that led to our calm offense and we really kept our composure. And also being 100% from the free throw line at the end really helped us stay ahead and keep the lead," Warnement said.
Just four weeks ago, Fremd won at Prospect 45-42.
"We're a different team now," Warnement added. "We've been working all season to get better on our defense and offense and we've really come together as a team. This was a great team win."
Weber felt his team did "a really good job" of fighting for every single possession, diving for loose balls, sharing the basketball and finding open teammates.
"Credit Fremd," added Weber, whose team tossed home 11 3-pointers. "That's a great team. They're well coached and they fought back. We knew that was going to happen, But at the end, we just had some good varsity leadership with Zoe, Alli and Allison to calm everyone down. We just made some big free throws at the end, and just continued to focus on our goals of what we want to accomplish this year even though we've faced some adversity (lost two starters to knee injuries.)“
Prospect started the game with five different players accounting for a 13-0 lead.
The big start included free throws from Black, a baseline 3-pointer by Warnement, a 12-footer by Linke, a 3-pointer by Tess Brennan and a 3-pointer by Daly with 3:04 left in the first quarter.
Senior guard Sophia McMillan got Fremd on the board with a 3-pointer at the 2:25 mark and Greta Thompson followed with a beautiful reverse layup to make it 13-5 before Daly connected for another 3-pointer which made it 16-5 after one period.
Fremd never got closer than 8 points in the second quarter. That deficit came via a 3-pointer by Gracie Todd and 2 free throws by Thompson that made it 22-14 with 3:47 left until half.
The Knights closed with a 9-4 run, capped by Black's 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 31-18 cushion.
Prospect kept the pressure on in the third quarter, taking a 36-23 lead on a 3-pointer from Linke, who also had two blocked shots on one Fremd possession.
Black's long-distance bucket made it 39-26 and Warnement hit the Knights' third 3-pointer in the period with three seconds left for a 42-28 advantage heading into the final period.
Thompson led Fremd with 18 points while McMillan added 14, 12 in the final quarter.
"Sophia has played great," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver. "She's done everything we've asked of her. She has shown the maturity to show up every night no matter what her job is, and she does that job."
Fremd outscored the Knights 20-14 in the final quarter.
"It was a good fourth quarter," Weaver added. "I'm really proud of the kids who made that run. Some of them haven't gotten a lot of playing time and they played their hearts out. They got us back into the game."