Donohue delivers down stretch in Prospect win

Eileen Donohue recently earned her way back into the starting lineup for Prospect's girls basketball team.

On Monday night, she helped the Knights earn a key nonconference win at the Jean Walker Field House.

The 5-foot-7 senior guard tossed home the 3-pointer which gave St. Viator a 54-53 lead with 2:52 left in the game and later hit a free throw that made it 59-53 with under a minute left as the Knights prevailed 60-53 over visiting St. Viator.

"She's been able to do big things for us this season," said Knights coach Gabrielle Lovin. "She is coming into leadership of her role. She has been clutch for us lately. Her shooting percentage is up and I'm proud of how she has kept her nose to the grindstone."

Donohue, who had 9 points (two 3-pointers), has hit at least one 3-pointer in Prospect's last seven games.

"Ever since I started playing, I've never been the fastest or strongest player," said Donohoe, a South Middle School product. "So I'd find myself at the 3-point line a lot. I started working on my shot because I felt that was an important part of my game. It's nice when they go in."

They were also going in for Emily Frasco, who scored Prospect's first 9 points when the Knights trailed 10-9.

Frasco hit back-to-back 3-pointers which put the Knights in front 6-2.

"Emily kind of threw the gasoline on the fire to get us going," Lovin said of the 6-foot junior guard who also grabbed 5 rebounds. "Our whole team pulled together and that was good."

Sophomore Ashley Adams clicked for a career-high 15 points, including a big steal and layup to start the third quarter and give the Knights a 44-42 lead.

"Ashley is coming into her own," Lovin said. "She had a great tournament at Dundee-Crown. She plays solid defense and it's rolling over to the offensive end."

Classmate Mandy Withey added 11 points with 16 rebounds, five shy of her season-high 21. Junior Margherite Pettenuzzo contributed 9 points, including a clutch 3-pointer with an assist from Frasco that gave Prospect a 49-45 lead in the final quarter.

Sophomore Stephanie Kowalczyk, senior Kendra Gancarz and senior Mary McKenna also had key buckets for the Knights. Prospect became the first Mid-Suburban League team to defeat the Lions, who have wins over Conant, Buffalo Grove and Elk Grove.

The Knights (8-8) also halted a six-game Viator winning streak.

"The difference in the game was our press," said St. Viator coach Jason Raymond. "We gave up too many open looks on the back end of it. That is still a work in progress for us since we started this new style (pressing since the start of their own Blenner Holiday Classic)."

Junior Myia Clark led the Lions (9-10) with a game-high 21 points and 9 rebounds followed by classmates Haley Robinson (10 points, 8 rebounds) and Olivia Solimene (7 points). Junior Maddie Fitzpatrick pulled down 6 rebounds and classmate Michaela Mueller had 4 assists.

"Myia is definitely the player other teams have to game plan for," Raymond said. "She has come a long way on both ends of the floor. She gets the best defender from every team.

"Haley (Robinson) brought a lot of energy to the game. She worked hard for us. And we really needed Myia's scoring."

"We were right there with them most of the game but our transition defense has to be better," said Clark, who averages nearly 14 points per game. "We had to be aware of players like Emily Frasco and others. We have to know where they are on the court and can't let people get open on us. And we need to make less turnovers. Otherwise, we've been doing pretty well."

The Knights feel they are playing better now, too.

"We started out a little rough," Donohue said. "But we've been picking it up and playing more as a team since the Dundee-Crown tournament."