Dixon's dream game a nightmare for Prospect

A week after many were dreaming of a white Christmas, Melissa Dixon surely could not have dreamt of the first half she produced in Wednesday's third-place game of the 27th annual Dundee-Crown Charger Classic.

The 5-foot-9 Johnsburg junior guard poured home 26 points, including 7 of 8 three-pointers, and finished with a career-high 34 points as the Skyhawks downed Prospect 68-51.

"We gave her way too many points in the first half," said Prospect senior guard Lexi Glennon, who scored 8 points. "She was on fire. We needed to step up on her earlier. She's a great shooter."

Better shooting at the free throw line by Prospect (12-4) would have helped its cause.

The Knights were 12-of-27 while Johnsburg (12-4,) a Class 3A school, connected on 12 of 19.

"Free throws killed us," said Knights junior forward Marissa Pettenuzzo, a southpaw shooter who scored 5 points with 5 rebounds. "If we would have made them, it would have been a much closer game."

"When you don't hit them, you have to step up somewhere else. We tried but we were not successful."

The Knights stepped up on the boards, outrebounding Johnsburg 31-28.

"They killed us on the boards," said Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint. "We gave up way too many second shots. I thought we did a better job in the second half when we went to man-to-man defense. I thought our pressure was better."

Dixon put the pressure on the Knights by hitting three 3-pointers in a span of less than two minutes of the second quarter for a 33-22 Johnsburg lead.

"Everything just felt great," said Dixon, a three-year starter. "I've never had a night like that."

Prospect, trailing 41-32 at intermission, started the second half with a 6-0 run to get to within 3 points.

But Johnsburg never let the Knights closer.

"At half, we talked about coming out strong in the third quarter, " Pettenuzzo said. "We wanted to get right back into the game.

"We should have stepped up on (Dixon) in the first half and not have waited until second (when she had 6 points). But we are proud that we held them to only three 3-pointers in the second half. Our halftime talk was a big key."

Senior Danielle Slivka added 19 for the Skyhawks, who have a four-year starter and two three-year starters.

"We have experience," Toussaint said. "We're starting to show it now. For a Class 3A school to finish third with the quality teams at this tournament, we're happy."

Prospect coach Martha Kelly was happy with what she saw from the Knights' 2-2 effort in the 16-team tourney.

"Overall, the girls had an excellent tournament," she said. "It will help us get ready for the second half of the season."

Sarah Hunt (6 rebounds), who made some nifty moves for layups underneath the basket, and her sister Rachel led the Knights with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Sarah Winans added 7 while juniors Sam Sturm and Jessica Shaffer came off the bench to contribute big buckets.

"You don't want to shoot free throws like we did and then they made 10 three-pointers," Kelly added "That's like a double whammy.

"But I have to hand it to Johnsburg. Truthfully, our game plan was to force them to shoot from the outside, and they did that very well. Then we changed in the second half to take away the perimeter shots."

The Knights visit Barrington (Tuesday) and Wheeling (Friday) this week.

"It doesn't get any easier," Kelly said.

"It's a good week of competition," Pettenuzzo said. "We just have to prepare and it will be fun."