Adler's double-double leads Barrington past Prospect
Due to a broken nose she suffered at the Dundee-Crown tournament two weeks ago, Gwen Adler is double masked wearing a face guard and a COVID mask.
On Thursday night, the Barrington sophomore put in a double-double performance for Barrington's girls basketball team.
Adler scored 18 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as Barrington ran past Prospect 55-39 in the Mid-Suburban League crossover at the Jean Walker Field House in Mt. Prospect.
"She (Adler) played great," said Prospect coach Matt Weber. "She worked hard inside to give them second-chance opportunities and you can't give those up against a good team like Barrington."
Sophie Swanson led the Fillies (13-5) with 20 points, 5 steals and 3 blocked shots while Adler also had 4 steals, 2 blocked shots and 1 assist along with her career-high 18 rebounds.
All with the double protection on her face.
"I've gotten used to it," said Adler, who is the setter for Barrington's state finalist in girls volleyball. "It's been two weeks wearing it now.
"We were without a starter Laura Mahlum (who missed her second game due concussion protocol) and they're a great team so we definitely came in focused. It was a big win because we wanted to get some momentum going for our game with Fremd on Tuesday. We had a ton of energy and our bench was really loud. I think it was really a good win."
Prospect (15-4) raced to a 7-0 lead with a driving layup and a 3-pointer from Emily Skoog (9 points) and 2 free throws by Summer Srodulski (19 points) with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
"Basketball is a game of runs and I thought the start of the game was great for us," Weber said. "We went on a little bit of a roll and credit Barrington for staying composed after having a little bit of adversity."
However, the Fillies rattled off 15 unanswered points, jump-started by Gwen Adler's 3-point play. The big run also included a steal and a 3-pointer by Swanson and a 3-pointer by Allison Funk.
Andie Will ended the big run when her 3-pointer with 1:11 left got Prospect to within 15-7 after one quarter.'
Srodulski's spin-around layup got the hosts within 15-12 but that's as close as they would get in the first half.
After Macy Zei flipped a nice pass to Srodulski for a layup that made it 28-22 with a minute left, Barrington gained its biggest lead of the half at 31-22 on Adler's rebound layup and a free throw from Swanson with 2.2 seconds left.
Allison Funk's steal led to a layup by Molly O'Riordan (8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 2 steals) to give Barrington a 37-26 lead with 2:48 left in the third quarter and the Knights never got within double digits again.
Adler's 2 free throws with 3:32 left made it 49-36 and gave the sophomore her 18 points, one shy of her career-high 19 as a freshman.
"Eighteen rebounds, that's a huge job," said Barrington coach Babbi Barrerio. "She is good at both ends of the court. Gwen is a gamer for sure.
"Sophie really did a nice job running the offense in the first half. She was very effective scoring tonight and I thought Allison Funk made some really nice decisions and some key plays defensively.
"I have a lot of respect for Prospect and what they are doing. They are playing well and they are coached well. I thought our kids really responded to the pressure they put on you."
Weber said his team has to play more consistently.
"But credit Barrington," he added. "Too many times we gave them multiple chances and things are not going to work out well when you do that. We just have to learn from this game and continue to work hard in practice if we want to accomplish our goals throughout the season."