When Rolling Meadows comes to Prospect for any sport, an intense game is inevitable. Prospect brought the intensity throughout the entire game, pulling out a 46-37 win over their rival. Andie Will and Macy Zei led the Knights in scoring with 12 points each, followed by Summer Srodulski who had 10 points and two steals. 

It wasn’t a coincidence that those players were Will, Zei and Srodulski. All three were part of a special 2018 South Middle School team which placed third overall in the state. Four of Rolling Meadows’ five starters played on that team as well. For the Knights, playing against their old teammates only fueled the intensity of the game.

“We knew they were going to come out and fight. They had us circled on their calendar because of the rivalry and we were just excited to play,” said head coach Matthew Weber.

Like any Prospect-Rolling Meadows matchup, there was plenty of trash talk throughout the game, especially after Meadows took an early 7-2 lead over Prospect to start the game. Srodulski wouldn’t let Meadows have the lead for long as she went on a 7-0 run all on her own to take a 9-7 lead for Prospect. After a Zei three, Meadows would never recover.

“Moria [Hickey] was at the top of the two-three zone, and she, as I’ve come to know from playing with her over the years, likes to talk. So every time I’d take a step back from the arc she would say ‘oh she’s not going to shoot it,’” Zei said. “So, once my time came, she was right in front of me, and I just shot it right in front of her face. It was just one of the best feelings running away from that.”

Meadows’ fight was evident as they were able to claw their way back within four points multiple times throughout the night. However, every time Meadows would close the lead, Prospect would have an offensive explosion.

“We just wanted to embrace the adversity because we believe in each other, we believe in our process and we never lose confidence in ourselves,” Weber said. 

The Rolling Meadows-Prospect rivalry will always be an interesting one, with old teammates becoming rivals. The night after the game, Zei was back hanging out with her former rival Moria Hickey.

“It feels great coming out on the other side having won the game because you have a lot more leverage. It was fun just to talk about the game and everything that happened, but it was really great to [tease] her like ‘you guys played good but we played better,’” Zei said.

Prospect looks to continue their four-game winning streak against Wheeling on March 9.