The Kits could not build on a 59-53 win against Lake Forest Academy on Saturday, falling 61-33 to a top-ranked Prospect team. They struggled throughout as the Knights dominated in every category leading to Kits losing focus.
The Kits knew they were in for a long night from the very start when Prospect’s Sophomore Black unleashed a trio of almost identical corner threes to give the Knights a 10-3 lead just two minutes and thirty seconds into the game. On the Kit’s next possession, senior Jaylen Warren scored off a drive to cut the lead to 10-5. Little did Warren know that her bucket would be the Kit’s only points for the next eight minutes as Prospects’ dominant defense settled in. They pressed the Kits aggressively forcing them to make poor passes as they turned the ball over off passes ten times in the first quarter alone. The Kits were out of the game by the end of the first quarter as they trailed 25-5.
“They came out with a ton of energy and dominated us from the beginning. Once we fell behind early we never looked like we would come back,” commented head coach Brittany Johnson.
As the game progressed, the Kits began to have absolutely no answer for Prospect’s 6’2’’ star junior Center Allison Linke used her size to dominate both the paint and the scoreboard as she put up 21 points before being benched two minutes into the third quarter with her team-leading 51-25. The Kits knew going in that stopping Linke would be a difficult task as she is ranked first in IHSA Division 4A in double-doubles with 14.
“We completely failed to match [Linke’s] physicality, and we allowed her to have her way which hurt us tremendously,” said Johnson.
While Johnson acknowledges that her team is still incredibly young she stresses that her team needs work on lowering turnovers which has been a big contributor during this poor run of form.
“It’s almost impossible to win games when a majority of your possessions don’t even end in a shot attempt,” Johnson said.
Next up for the Kits is a game against a strong Glenbrook North team on Friday. In their first encounter, the Kits defeated the Spartans 44-38 in what has proved their win of the season up to this point.
