Prospect prospers with second-half spurt
In its previous two wins against Schaumburg and Elk Grove, Prospect’s girls basketball team struggled the most in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
“So at halftime (Monday night at St. Viator) we talked about extending our lead right away and pushing it hard because we’ve been having trouble doing that in the third quarter,” said Knights 6-foot senior center Maura Benson.
“The girls even said they wanted a big start to the second half,” said Knights coach Martha Kelly. “They had been talking about that.”
Sure enough, the Knights backed up their talk.
They used a 10-0 run early in the third quarter to grab a 45-32 advantage and never looked back in a 61-39 triumph over the Lions in the Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.
Benson, who finished with team highs of 14 points, 11 rebounds (5 offensive) and 6 blocked shots, started the run with a rebound layup.
Adriane Falagario (7 points on 3-of-5 shooting) then hit a 17-footer near the top of the key, which was followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Christina Brucci and Michele Molini.
“We knew we were faster than them,” Benson said. “Coach told us to play up to our level and use the fastbreak. We wanted to look for layups and close-up shots, too.”
Sophomore Trisha Benson (4 points, 6 rebounds) hit a pair of free throws late in the third quarter to make it 47-36 and Viator never got closer than 10.
Senior center Lauren Rooney led the Lions (4-3) with 11 points while teammates Katie Gavin, Erin Fabbri, Mallory Hess and Morgan Hess all chipped in 6 points.
“In the first half, we weren’t thinking and just playing the game,” said Morgan Hess, who had all 6 of her points in the first half. “Then in the second half, we were over-thinking thing too much.
“As soon as they go that nice lead on us, we lost focus and confidence. We’ve got to get better at preventing that loss of focus.”
The Lions led by as many as 7 in the first half but Prospect fought back to a 25-25 tie when Maura Benson made 2 free throws with 1:40 left in the half.
“Maura is such an intelligent player,” said Kelly, who was without senior starter Jessica Petrovski (illness). “We talked to Maura about doing more things offensively, and she picked right up on the them. And she is such a leader on the floor.”
The Knights got the lead for good when Molini hit 2 free throws with 39.8 seconds left in the first half.
Molini (12 points), who led the Knights with 4 steals, then tossed in a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to give Prospect a 31-27 lead at the break.
Brucci (9 points), a St. Raymond’s product who played against a number of the Lions in middle school, hit her second 3-pointer in less than two minutes to give Prospect a 45-32 lead midway through third quarter.
Prospect freshman Taylor Will collected 9 of her 11 points in the first half and also muscled her way for 6 rebounds.
“Overall it was a great team effort,” said Kelly, who will look for more of the same today when Chicago-area ranked Stevenson (6-1) visits the Jean Walker Fieldhouse at 7:30 p.m. “Everyone contributed. I thought we had a great second half. The defensive effort was better.”
St. Viator will prepare for its East Suburban Catholic Conference opener against visiting Benet on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“We came out and shot well in the first half,” said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. “We had good energy and executed things.
“But our shooting percentage went down in the second half, and they made 3-pointers. Prospect is a good team. They stayed the course and pounded us.”
Lake Forest Academy 50, Christian Liberty 36: The Chargers led 6-3 after one quarter but host Lake Forest outscored CLA 17-9 in the second quarter.
Jess Moriarty (14 points) and Megan Sullivan (9 points) each had a 3-pointer for the Chargers (4-2).