Prospect mindfully tops Conant

After a witnessing a 12-of-24 performance at the free throw line on Wednesday, Prospect coach Ashley Graham discussed the issue with her girls prior to Thursday's game.

"She kind of reminded us about focus and not to over think when we're at the line," said Knights senior Taylor Will. "She said 'Just let your body do it, it's muscle memory.' "

The Knights sure remembered well. They made 11-of-12 in the final six minutes to help seal a 62-57 victory over Conant in the York tournament.

Defending tourney champ Prospect improved to 2-0 in the event while Conant was playing its season opener under first-year coach Deirdre Naughton.

The Knights went ahead 48-35 on 2 free throws by senior Catherine Sherwood with 5:56 left in the game.

Conant kept closing in the rest of the way, getting to within 60-57 on senior Nireet Dhillon's fourth 3-pointer of the game and third of the second half with 13.3 seconds left.

But Will sealed the deal by converting 2 free throws with 12.5 seconds.

"I thought our free throw shooting was much better," said Graham, who saw her Knights make 21-of-26. "So that was huge improvement."

Will (27 points) and Sherwood (20) had huge scoring games but it was the free throws down the stretch that saved the day.

"Our free throws were clutch," Sherwood said. "At the end, we were saying get the ball to Taylor and Nikki (Matters) because they were sinking them. They came up big for us."

In the final 3:29, Will made 6-of-7 while Matters converted 4-of-4.

"It was fun," said Will, whose 21 points gave the Knights' third all-time leading scorer 1,247 points.

It was a fun game to watch as Conant refused to go away in Naughton's debut in front of her high school coach (Teri Rodgers of New Trier, who starred at Libertyville High School).

"That was special seeing her here for the game," said Naughton, who went on to star for Wake Forest and DePaul. "That's just the kind of person (Rodgers) she is to be here for my first game."

Naughton was proud of her Cougar's effort, led by 5-foot-11 senior Haley Anderson's 16 points. She did it despite playing with 4 fouls in the final quarter when she scored 10 points.

Dhillon added 15 points followed by senior teammate Katie Lomas (7 points), who made some beautiful passes inside for easy baskets late in the game.

"It's nice to get the first-game jitters out of the way and that's a great team we played," Naughton said. "I'm so proud of the way our kids came back and fought through the adversity."

Will scored 10 of Prospect's first 12 points and the Knights led 12-4 after one quarter. They built the lead to 22-8 midway through the second quarter and led 32-20 at half.

"We gave up so many easy baskets in the first half," said Naughton, who was back at the school where served as the sophomore girls basketball coach last season before assisting Rodgers from 2011 to 2013. "To come back and chip away at the lead shows so much about this team."

DeeDee Durr, Alissa Wachal and Jorie Wachal each chipped in 6 points for Conant.

Matters finished with 8 points for Prospect making 6-of-6 free throws while teammate Clare O'Carroll chipped in 5 points.

Sophomore Haley Will, who saw limited time because she has been battling illness, scored her first basket of the season in the fourth quarter to help the Knights maintain their lead.

"Conant is a really nice team," Graham said. "They play real hard and have nice shooters from the outside. Credit goes to them. They battled back and had good leadership from their seniors."