Benet rolls past Bartlett
Benet played a dream first quarter Friday night in Lisle.
Bartlett saw a silver lining in a strong third quarter, though it wasn’t enough to overcome Benet in a 63-41 Redwings win at the Benet/Naperville Central Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Redwings (2-0) took advantage of 18 Bartlett turnovers in the first quarter to take a 27-2 lead after eight minutes. By halftime Benet led 42-12.
“We had an excellent half,” Benet coach Peter Paul said. “We really played well the first half.”
“We’ve had some turnovers issues in the first two games, and it’s been trouble for us,” added Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. “We’ve got to correct it. There’s just no doubt about it. It killed us, the turnovers and the inability to keep players out of the paint.”
But Bartlett wasn’t ready to call it a night. After a Benet basket to open the third quarter gave the Redwings their biggest lead of the game, the Hawks (0-2) scored the next 8 points, eventually cutting the margin under 20 on Chantel Zasada’s lefty layup with 2:14 left in the period. The Hawks cut the Benet lead as low as 16 points, but Benet bounced back to lead 50-30 going into the fourth quarter. Bartlett never threatened again.
“I was very proud of the girls because it would be really easy after a start like that to just fold over and call it a day,” Sarna said. “We tapped on that and asked them to show some pride, come out and play a little inspired in the second half. We came out and showed a little life.”
“We just kind of relaxed a little bit,” Paul added. “It seemed like things were going easy, and they had momentum and they got back in. We’re a young team. We basically had one senior out there. We’re learning as we go along.”
Benet played only one senior because its other senior, St. Louis University recruit Christen Prasse, sat out with an ankle injury. She hopes to return next week. In the meantime the other Redwings have a chance to develop their game a little more.
“In one respect we’re learning together how to play without Christen,” Paul said. “Once she gets back in she’ll add a dimension.”
Emily Schramek led Benet with 16 points, Emily Eshoo added 12 points and Eden Olson had 11. Jenna Martin led the way on the boards with 5 offensive rebounds.
“Even though they were taller we did a great job of getting offensive boards,” Paul said. “Jenna Martin played an outstanding game getting a lot of rebounds for us.”
Senior Alyssa Hernandez scored 14 points to lead Bartlett, and junior Elizabeth Arco added 12, 10 in the third quarter. The two Hawks also combined for 5 blocked shots.
“Those two girls are kind of the heart of our team,” Sarna said. “They’re both very capable. As they get used to playing together and our team gets used to playing, and finding the right times and making the right passes and getting the right situations, we’ll just get stronger and stronger. They’ll be two of our leaders all season long.”