Prospect's strong 2nd half beats St. Charles East
For a team that hasn't always played its best basketball in the second half so far this year, Prospect could do no wrong in the final 16 minutes Wednesday at St. Charles East.
Spotting the host Saints a 7-point halftime lead, Prospect pushed the pace in the second half while turning up the defensive intensity, a combination that paved the way to a 59-46 nonconference victory.
Angela Roman led Prospect (5-4) with 18 points, sinking 8 of her 9 shots from the field. Eleven of those points came after halftime.
"We've had previous games where we've been close at the half and we've come in the second half and come into the fourth quarter and we've fallen behind," Roman said. "We realized we have to kick it into gear and picked up our energy. We played our hardest and that definitely transferred into points."
After falling behind 13-9 after a quarter, St. Charles East (1-6) played a near-perfect second quarter, outscoring Prospect 22-11 to take a 31-24 halftime lead.
Sophomore forward Sara Rosenfeldt started the quarter with a 3-point play. She went on to score 12 points in the quarter and 16 in the half.
"We had great intensity the first half," Rosenfeldt said. "Prospect, I'm not going to lie, they came out really hard on us in the second half, put pressure on. We just have to work tomorrow in practice and get back to it."
Roman picked up three fouls in the first half. In the second half not only did she get Prospect back in the game on the offensive end, she helped limit Rosenfeldt to 4 points.
"No. 41 (Rosenfeldt) was killing us the first half," Prospect coach Gabrielle Lovin said. "I have to give credit to Angela Roman and we got out and pushed. We decided to drive and kick, drive and kick. Once we get into our position where we're under control but pushing the ball, we do a real good job."
Point guard Angelina Villasin did a lot of that pushing. Her steal and layup cut the Saints' lead to 41-40 late in the third quarter, and Emily Frasco sank a pair of free throws to tie the game at 42-42 heading to the fourth.
Nikki Matters opened the fourth quarter by grabbing a rebound and taking the ball for a layup on the other end, and Villasin quickly followed with a steal and another layup for a 46-42 lead.
Prospect went on to outscore the Saints 17-4 in the fourth quarter.
"Our team's energy was up," Roman said. "We recognized the transition, that's where we were having a lot of opportunities. It just kind of flowed."
Villasin scored 14 points and Matters 12. Rosenfeldt led all scorers with 20 points. Hannah Vitkus added 9 points and 7 rebounds, and Marissa Urso hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 8 points off the Saints' bench.