Turnovers cost Benet
The Benet girls basketball team controlled the boards with more than 30 rebounds against Fenwick on Tuesday night in Lisle. When the Friars shot well, the Redwings shot well. When Fenwick cooled off shooting so did Benet.
Look further down on the stat sheet and you'll find why the Friars went home 63-53 winners in East Suburban Catholic Conference play.
Benet (9-5, 0-2) finished the night with 20 turnovers.
“What they learned from tonight is they have to take care of the basketball. There were too many mistakes, too many turnovers and Fenwick took advantage,” said Redwings coach Peter Paul.
Case in point, the start of the third quarter. After the teams were tied at 32 at halftime, Benet's Emily Eshoo opened the third with a 3-pointer. Fenwick (6-7, 1-2) immediately responded with baskets from Elle Schaefer and Jessica Mackowiak followed by a Redwings turnover that resulted in Jenny Mackowiak's layup to put the Friars up 39-35.
Paul called a timeout with 6:57 left in the period. Later, Benet coughed up the ball, which set up Maya Garland's basket to give Fenwick a 41-35 lead and Paul called another timeout at 5:52. At that point the Friars were 4 of 5 from the field and the Redwings just 1 of 1 with 4 turnovers.
Fenwick led 49-44 at the end of three quarters. Paul stressed to his team not to forget the fundamentals of their game, but try not to force things on the court.
“Our kids feel pressure and sometimes they try to do too much. I tell them let the game come to you, relax a little bit,” he said.
Benet led 11-9 after the first quarter as both teams combined for 7 of 32 from the field. The offenses heated up for that 32-32 halftime score with Benet hitting 9 of 15 during that span.
Emily Schramek led Benet with 17 points. Eshoo and Morgan Thomalla followed with 8 points each.
Garland, who scored a game-high 24 points for Fenwick, said defending the Benet lineup posed a challenge.
“They have some great shooters and a great point guard (Kathleen Doyle). When they went for the basketball, we didn't know whether to focus on the point guard or the shooters,” she said.