Prospect powers past Highland Park
Prospect's defense opened the postseason with the same stinginess it showed during the regular season as the Knights posted a 43-25 victory over Highland Park in the semifinals of the Class 4A Buffalo Grove regional.
Junior Taylor Will scored a game-high 19 points and classmate Catherine Sherwood added 13 as No. 3-seeded Prospect (23-5) moved on to Thursday's championship game against No. 11 Buffalo Grove (14-15) at 7 p.m.
"We had another great defensive effort," said Knights coach Ashley Graham. "The kids came out ready to go right from the opening tip. We are looking forward to playing for the regional title on Thursday."
The Knights held Highland Park under double digits in each period.
Haley Will, Mallory Gonzalez and Marissa Pacini each chipped in points for the winners.
Rolling Meadows 64, Lake Zurich 22: Alexis Glasgow (20 points), Jackie Kemph (18 points, 9 assists), Jenny Vliet (8 points), Katie Shewmon (6 rebounds) and Ashley Montanez (5 rebounds) helped lead the top-seeded Mustangs (24-4) to the title game of their own Class 4A regional on Thursday at 7 p.m. against No. 8 Mundelein.
Wheeling 55, Waukegan 33: No. 22 Wheeling (13-15) won its play-in game of the Waukegan regional over the No. 22 host Bulldogs and advances to today's 8 p.m. semifinal against No. 5 Stevenson.
Palatine 45, Hoffman Estates 29: No. 13 Palatine (10-18) won its play-in game of the Waukegan sectional over No. 20 Hoffman Estates (4-22) and advanced to today's semifinal against No. 4 Hersey (23-4).
Glenbard East 56, Schaumburg 45: No. 16 Schaumburg (7-20) was led by junior guard Brittany Reinhart (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) and Tatiana Doroskin (13 points, 2 rebounds) over the No. 18 host Rams in the play-in game of the Glenbard East 4A regional.
Luther North 44, Christian Liberty 43: Ariel Schumaker hit 2 free throws with seven seconds left to lift Luther North to a come-from-behind victory over the Chargers in a Class 1A sectional semifinal that saw nine lead changes.
With the clock winding down, Chargers senior guard Megan Sullivan rebounded a missed shot and put it back in the basket but time had just expired.
"If only we had that one more second," said Sullivan, who scored a game-high 18 points with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.
Freshman Isabella Wolke added 12 points for the Chargers, including 10 in the second half.
"I was really proud of Isabella," Sullivan added.
Junior Mikala Pipping courageously played on a turned ankle.
Freshman Jasmine Marsh played hard trying to contain Shumaker before fouling out with 5:12 left in the game after collecting 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, all to Wolke.
Sullivan's pull-up 3-pointer with 1:41 left in the game got the Chargers to within 42-41.
Her free throw at 1:03 tied the game at 42 and another one with 33 seconds left gave CLA the lead at 43-42 before Shumaker's 2 free throws decided the outcome.
Sophomore Samantha Amedin added 3 pointed for CLA and teammate and teammate Eve Rho had 2.