Warren's double trouble for Prospect
Oh, the perks of having not one but two Division I players on your roster.
The Warren girls basketball team was carried by both of its superstars on Thursday night, and at just the right times, too.
The tag-team effort between Jordyn Hughes and Kaylen Dickson helped to push Warren to a 63-41 victory over Prospect in the Class 4A regional championship game at Buffalo Grove. For top-seeded Warren, which improves to 24-6, it is the first regional title since 2012.
The Blue Devils will face Grayslake Central in the sectional semifinals next week.
"We kind of pick each other up," Dickson said of her on-court relationship with Hughes. "We feed off each other really well. And we constantly reassure each other."
Hughes, who will be playing at Eastern Illinois next year, took over the first half when Dickson, who will be playing at Wake Forest, was tagged with her third foul with just 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
In a tight, back-and-forth game, Hughes was clearly looking to be the go-to scorer for Warren, and she wound up scoring 16 of her 19 points before halftime, including 7 in the second quarter with Dickson on the bench.
"When Kaylen wasn't on the floor, it was like everyone kind of looked to me," Hughes said. "As a senior, I felt a little bit of a responsibility to put the team on my back. I knew she would be back in the second half, and she'd be under control and determined and she did it."
It was Dickson's turn to do the heavy lifting in the second half.
She was determined to make up for her quiet for half. Dickson scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half.
"I knew I couldn't get any more stupid fouls," Dickson said. "I kind of felt like I had to make up for what I screwed up on in the first quarter. I had to come back from that."
After pretty back-to-back baskets in which Dickson showed her fancy footwork and well-oiled handles, fans in the Warren student section started chanting, "You can't guard her!"
And while Prospect couldn't stop Dickson, it couldn't get its own offense started either. Jessica Kowalczyk opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, but those wound up being the Knights only field goals in the period.
Warren outscored Prospect, down just 30-27 at halftime, 20-8 in the decisive third-quarter.
And the bleeding continued in the fourth quarter as Prospect scored only 6 points in the fourth quarter.
Kowalczyk finished with 9 points while twin sister Stephanie Kowalczyk had 10 points. Between them, they had 5 of Prospect's eight 3-pointers, 3 and 2 respectively.
Prospect played without senior guard Emily Frasco, the Knights' leading scorer on the season who had 19 points against Conant to end the regular season and 19 more against Hersey to advance to the regional title game. Frasco, a 6-foot guard who will play at Division I Alabama-Birmingham next season, suffered an injury in practice this week and was not cleared to play Thursday.
"We weren't playing like a team in the second half," Jessica Kowalczyk said. "Early on, we were passing well and getting open shots. We didn't do such a good job of that in the second half. And we played good defense in the first half. We shut down their best player and got her out of the game with fouls, but we just couldn't take enough advantage of it."
Prospect finishes the season with a 16-10 record. Warren also got double-figures from reserve Jataia Harris. She had 11 points.