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Prospect grinds out win over Hoffman Estates

A dislocated ankle kept Prospect's Kayla Byrne from playing her junior season.

"But she did our stats, was at every practice and every game," said Knights coach Marie Miller about her 5-foot-8 senior guard/forward who comes off the bench. "We've talked especially to her about her role and how she was going to achieve it. She has been working real hard in practice and soaking in everything we talk about."

Byrne let her game do the talking on Thursday at Hoffman Estates.

She came off the bench to toss in a career-high 10 points, including the 3-pointer that gave Prospect its first lead at 44-43 in a 59-52 grind-it-out Mid-Suburban League crossover win over the scrappy Hawks (2-8).

The Knights (7-2) trailed 18-7 early in the second quarter before pulling into a 20-20 at intermission.

But two inside buckets by Berry Chukwuyem and a 17-footer by Ana Sturgis got the hosts back in front 28-22.

Prospect finally edged ahead on Byrne's 3-pointer with 7:20 left in the game.

"She (Miller) just told us at half the shots were there, and now we had to hit them," Byrne said.

Knights sophomore Eliot Dojutrek (team-high 14 points, three 3-pointers) also hit her shots off the bench.

With an array of moves, she scored seven straight points to get her team to within 35-32 late in the third quarter.

"Everyone was hitting shots on both ends so we knew it was going to be a battle," Byrne added. "We just had to keep knocking down our shots, and we did."

Leading 51-50 with 1:32 left, Prospect closed the game on an 8-2 run, getting 2 free throws apiece from Helen Siavelis (4 points) and Ashley Adams (13 points).

Stephanie Kowalczyk and Abbey Danciu each added 8 points for Prospect while Jessica Kowalczyk had the key rebound and layup to tie the game just before the halftime buzzer.

It was Dujotrek's highest-scoring game since she had 16 in the season opener.

"We can't be happier that she is only a sophomore," Miller said. "She's dedicated, works hard and has the maturity of a senior. We've got the luxury of having a pretty full force coming in behind our top five. Everyone buys in and works to makes themselves better every day."

Raven Wilson, a 6-foot-2 senior, led Hoffman with a game-high 18 points, 14 in the first half. Chukwuyem (6-foot-4 senior) and Nora Thomas each added 8 while Patricia Wadas and Sturgis (two 3-pointers) chipped in 6 apiece.

"We've played really well at times this season and this was one of them," said Hawks coach Mike Koester. "We just didn't make enough plays. We had a few breakdowns, got a little down on ourselves and couldn't recover. You've got to hand it to Prospect. They worked their butts off. They did a good job speeding us up and we just didn't play our game.

"Raven looked really good and Berry probably had 12 rebounds. We were working well with the advantage we had there, but we just didn't get enough of it because of too many turnovers."

Lake Forest 43, St. Viator 41: Joy Bergstrom had 22 points, 4 rebounds 2 assists and a steal but St. Viator fell just short in a nonconference loss to Lake Forest. Elise Horbach added 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Lions (9-3). Halle Douglas had a game-high 22 points for Lake Forest.

  Prospect's Stephanie Kowalczyk goes down hard with Hoffman Estates' Ana Sturgis causing a loose ball in the fourth quarter of the girls varsity basketball matchup at Hoffman on Thursday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Prospect's Ashley Adams is pressured heavily by the Hoffman Estates defense in the fourth quarter of the girls varsity basketball matchup at Hoffman on Thursday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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