It's Prospect, in a Classic
Hersey led Prospect for more than 27 of the 32 minutes on Saturday when the two girls basketballs teams played for the Mid-Suburban League East girls basketball championship.
In fact, the Huskies led by as many as 12 points (25-13) with under three minutes to play in the first half.
But the state-ranked Knights, never a team to panic, were not going to be denied the crown they'd been going after since a freshman by the name of Taylor Will joined the program in the fall 2011.
Four years later, Prospect's all-time leading scorer, Will (1,769 points), and the Knights celebrated their first East crown since 2004 while District 214 celebrated 100 years of education at the Arlington Heights branch of Robert Morris University.
With Will scoring a game-high 18 points and her senior teammate Catherine Sherwood getting 13, the Knights rallied for a 47-44 victory over the Huskies at the Forest View Education Center.
Prospect (24-1, 10-0) will go back home to the Jean Walker Field House on Wednesday to face West champion Fremd (22-4, 10-0) at 7:30 p.m. for the MSL title.
Hersey (20-6, 8-2) will host Conant (20-4, 8-2) in the MSL second-place crossover game on Tuesday.
The Knights' last and only other undefeated journey through the East came in 2001 when they also played Fremd for the title.
Prospect's 24 wins also match the school record which was set by the 2004 team coached by Mike Nocella.
"To accomplish what these kids did, and go 10-0 with it being arguably the toughest and most competitive year for the East, just speaks volumes about this team," said Knights third-year coach Ashley Graham. "They have truly left me speechless."
They left their fans cheering the most in the second half, grinding away at the Huskies' lead.
Prospect gained its first advantage of the game at 41-39 when sophomore Haley Will (8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) hit a 3-pointer from the corner.
Hersey came back and grabbed its last lead at 45-44 on Juliette's Vainisi's layup which was the result of a steal and assists from Kelly Weyhrich (8 rebounds, 5 points, 4 assists).
Prospect got back in front 45-44 on a pair of free throws by Taylor Will with 1:23 left.
Junior Brenda Kendziera (6 points, 5 assists), who moments earlier had to change into jersey No. 13 (after there was blood on her usual No. 32), recovered a loose ball in the backcourt and a timeout by Graham allowed Prospect to retain possession of the ball.
The Knights capitalized when Taylor Will took the inbounds pass and went coast to coast for a layup making it 47-44 with 44 seconds left.
Junior Nikki Matters got a big rebound after Hersey missed a shot with 32 seconds left.
Although the Knights missed the front end of the bonus with 31 seconds left, they forced another turnover in the final 10 seconds and held on for their biggest conference win in 11 seasons.
"It's crazy," said Taylor Will, who also grabbed 5 rebounds, with 2 assists and 2 steals. "I never expected any of this when I got here as a freshman. We are so excited to see all the hard work pay off."
The Knights were never discouraged when Hersey gained its big lead.
The game was tied at 11- when the Huskies went on an 11-0 run.
Sophomore Claire Gritt (12 points) started the streak with 7 straight points, a running 10-footer, a 3-pointer and 2 free throws for an 18-11 cushion.
Annie Korff (8 points, 8 rebounds) then found Maggie Berigan for an 8-foot fadeaway jumper on the baseline that made it 20-11 before 2 free throws by Weyhrich increased the lead to 22-11.
Sherwood, who now needs only 4 points for 1,000 in her career, hit a driving bank shot to halt the Knights' scoring drought and make 22-13.
"Honestly, we were not freaking out," Sherwood said of the big deficit. "I even looked up at the big scoreboard (a jumbotron on which legendary Daily Herald sports editor Bob Frisk was seen throughout the day providing historical moments of District 214 athletics). But there wasn't the score of the game up on that big board so I honestly didn't notice we were down that much.
"We just had to keep playing hard. We had total confidence that we would come back and achieve what we wanted."
Taylor Will said the Knights actually come together as team when they fall behind.
"We just said we were not going to let this game get away," she said "When we came back on the court for the second half, we had the mindset we were not going to let them score."
The Knights outscored Hersey 29-17 in the final two quarters.
"We just got out of our offense," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley. "We have a lot of set offenses and we didn't do things we know we have."
Vainisi was primarily responsible for defending the explosive Taylor Will, who will play at Brown University next season.
"I can't say enough about Juliette's defense," Fendley added. "We have asked her to defend some of the top D-I talent in the state and she always rises to the occasion. We try to give her help, but she really didn't get that much and she still had a great game."
Hersey shot 48 percent for the game while the Knights made 42 percent on their shots.
"Our shooting was good," Fendley said. "Everting was good except our turnovers (20 while Prospect had 9). We just didn't get off enough shots in the second half because of that.
"I'm proud of the way the kids have played in the conference. We'll consider it successful if we learn from this loss and get better from the things we learned today."
Graham learned the her Knights are as special as it gets.
"I really feel like I get hit in the throat when I talk about them," she said. "I really get choked up. The team chemistry, the individual talent and they way they are on and off the court - they're just a great bunch. They could not be more deserving of this."