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Providence falls into Benet's trap

In Benet girls basketball parlance full-court pressure defense is all about trapping ponytails.

The Redwings started Friday night's Naperville North/Benet Holiday Tournament game playing fast, then turned the pace up a notch in the third quarter to coast to a 61-42 victory against Providence in Lisle.

"We love playing fast," senior forward Emma Hlavin said. "That's our game. We full-court pressure. We like to trap ponytails, turn them, get the steals and get the layup."

Leading 29-23 at halftime, the Redwings (12-0) came out firing in the third quarter. They scored the first 10 points of the period, and a few minutes later an Elise Stout putback gave the Redwings a 45-25 lead. Providence never threatened again.

"I thought our effort was good the whole first half," Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. "We got a good jump. Then the second quarter it just seemed we could not get a basket to save our lives. I thought we actually played pretty well, we just didn't convert. We got turnovers, we got rebounds, we got good looks. It wasn't like they were bad shots. We were missing some shots.

"But I think we were able to create enough tempo that when we got to the third quarter and we got a little run and a couple of them went in, they were starting to get a little tired."

Said Providence coach Eileen Copenhaver: "That was the turnaround of the game. We had a game plan, we got away from the game plan. Credit to them, they hit their shots. We didn't hit such good shots, which was part of it. Then you turn around and before you know it they did their Benet thing and they got ahead of us."

Providence (8-4) tried to keep up, with Copenhaver yelling at her players early in the game to slow down. Easier said than done against Benet.

"Both teams were really playing really well," Hlavin said. "They came out strong, we came out strong. The coaches said at halftime we have to pick it up, we have to pick up our full-court pressure. We just picked up the tempo, got them a little tired, turned them, got turnovers and scored."

Emily Eshoo crept closer to the 1,000-point milestone with 17 against Providence, and Emily Schramek added 13 to her varsity total, already in four digits. Stout scored 11 points.

Hlavin didn't score, but she provided what the Redwings needed to remain undefeated.

"Emma did a really good job today," Kilbride said. "She didn't score a lot of points, but she played great defense on Mary (Fashingbauer of Providence), who's a good player. Rebounded the ball for us, ran the floor, helped us with our pressure defense. ... We're always looking for somebody else to throw a little something into the mix."

"I see myself as someone who is very supportive, whether I'm playing or not," Hlavin added. "I'm not the scorer on the team. I'm more do the little things that people don't recognize most of the time, but I'm fine with that. I run hard, I play defense and I let the Schrameks, the Eshoos, they score and I rebound."

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz

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