Buffalo Grove withstands Prospect's rally
As if a 15-4 run weren't enough to close out the first half, Buffalo Grove's Macy Floro put an exclamation mark on it by hitting a half-court shot just before the second quarter buzzer sounded.
The dramatic hoop from the junior guard capped an 18-4 run for a 24-13 halftime lead over host Prospect.
The lead grew to 40-25 early in the fourth quarter before Buffalo Grove withstood a late rally by the Knights for a 46-40 Mid-Suburban East girls basketball win Friday night.
Floro finished with a game-high 13 points (three 3-pointers) as the Bison (8-5) moved into a second-place tie with Prospect (both are 2-2) in the East behind Rolling Meadows and Hersey (both 3-1).
"This is not an easy place to win at," said Bison coach Steve Kolodziej of the Jean Walker Field House where Knights retiring athletic director Tom Martindale was honored with a ceremony between the girls and boys game.
"To come here and win, we'll take it and move on to Dundee-Crown (tournament next week).
Prospect (7-4) is also headed to Carpentersville.
"We have to move on - we've got Maine South on the 26th," said Prospect coach Marie Miller. "They're a very similar team (to BG) so this is a good warmup for us."
The Knights were warming up in the fourth quarter, outscoring BG for the first time 13-8.
"The end was great but we've got to start the game like that," Miller said. "The sense of urgency has to be ignited right at the tip off."
Floro's first 3-pointer (19 footer) - also a buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter - ignited a 12-0 lead run for the visitors.
"Macy is the epitome of hard work, one of the hardest working kids I have ever met," Kolodziej said. "She is in the right place at the right time. She makes her own luck."
"I just chucked it up as soon as I got it," she said of her half-court bomb that came off her own steal of an inbounds pass. "It's really exciting to get this win. It gets us back up on our feet at 2-2 in the conference."
Junior Kendra Lee added 11 points for the Bison, followed by classmate Alyssa Ramos with 9 and senior Sydney Fortman with 8.
Jackie Bickhaus, Hannah Young and Zori Angelova also scored for BG.
"I couldn't be happier for these girls," Kolodziej said. "Our seniors have struggled against Prospect all four years. We haven't won here in four years so it shows when you work hard good things happen."
Seniors Ashley Adams (12 points) and Abbey Danciu (11) led Prospect.
"BG is a tough team," Miller added. "They play hard. They took it to us strong. They made their shots and we didn't. We've got to work harder at being Prospect."
BG played one of its finest halves in the first 16 minutes.
"We had a tremendous first half," Kolodziej said. "Even the first three quarters. We did a great job defensively limiting Prospect on what it was capable of doing.
"You never know what's going to happen on this side (East division). It makes it fun to just come out every time and see what team shows up and how you respond. It helped when we hit some easy ones in transition and executed early. Then we kind of played a little timid down the stretch but finished well enough.