Prospect's offense comes alive in win over Elk Grove
Prospect's girls basketball roster included three sets of sisters on Friday night when the Knights hosted Elk Grove in a Mid-Suburban League game at the Jean Walker Fieldhouse.
Among the six girls, all classes were covered from ninth to 12th grade.
And it was the youngest, freshman Alli Linke, who quickly took the spotlight, scoring 16 of her career-high 17 points in the first half when Prospect (10-2, 3-0) built a 40-19 advantage and never looked back in a 63-28 triumph over the Grenadiers (3-8, 1-2).
The explosive first half was quite the contrast from the Knights' first 24 minutes two nights earlier when they were tied with St. Viator at 25 before winning 65-40.
"I think we knew we had the play with the same intensity we came out with (against Viator) in the second half," said Alli Linke, who also pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds. "So we did a good job bringing that to the court."
Weber brought Alli off the bench while her sister Taylor, a senior, started and tossed in 6 points. The other sister tandems are junior Skylar Splinter (11 points) and sophomore Sadie Splinter (4 points) along with junior Ashlyn Pomis (4 points) and sophomore Neve Pomis.
"I Iike being a freshman on the varsity because all my teammates push me and it's fun," added Alli Linke, whose previous best scoring game was 16 points in the Knights' season-opening win over Marist.
"Alli did a really good job of posting up," said Skylar Splinter, who helped spark the Knights' defense (she had 6 rebounds) which forced 8 turnovers in the first quarter. "We try to trap the screens and we get the steals off the people denying the passes. We get a lot of steals off the transition defense."
Senior guard Molly Gilhooly (5 points) had 4 assists, including one when she took a quick entry pass from junior Zoe Brown (6 points) and then flipped a quick toss to Taylor Linke (6 points) for a layup and 32-11 lead with 5:20 left in the second quarter.
Moments later, Alli Linke tossed in a beautiful 8-foot fadeaway for a 36-13 lead and the freshman closed out her 16-point performance with another nice move in the paint for an 8-footer that made it 40-19.
"One of the things we emphasized was getting the ball inside and I thought our team did a good job looking for Allie and creating opportunities for her to score," said Prospect coach Matt Weber, whose team will have double digit wins heading into their Christmas tourney for the second straight year. "And she did a good job finishing strong and playing through some contact."
Nine different Knights have scored in double figures this season.
Also getting into the scoring column on Friday were Ashlyn Pomis (4 points) and sophomore Gina Falls (6 points, 2 blocked shots, 2 steals) and sophomore Colleen Shute (4 points).
"We try to find the hot hand," Weber said. "We've got a lot of people who play, and we want to play as many as possible with high energy. It's a long season. We just want to keep improving."
Maggie Maher (8 points), Libby Wirtz (8 points) and Julia Masnica each hit a 3-pointer for the Grens who also got points from Emily Fiorito and Ella Duckman.
"Maggie Maher is very aggressive," said first-year Elk Grove coach Courtney Lindfors, a former Driscoll and EG standout. "Once she gets more confidence, she is going to be a really good player.
"These girls are always working so hard and that's the one thing we can only rely on. They do not give up. They fight no matter what and that's all I can ask of them at this moment. It's been a challenge with injuries in our first 11 games. If we can get a full team, it will exciting and that's all I can ask."
Weber, whose team hosts Lake Forest (9-2) on Saturday afternoon, asked for his girls to repeat their second half from Wednesday's game against St. Viator.
"We kind of had a weak start in that game," Skylar Splinter said. "But our second half (outscored the Lions 40-15) was really strong so we wanted to bring the energy from that and kind of translate it into the first half tonight. And I think we did that."