Benoit, Hampshire squeak past St. Edward
Hampshire junior Emma Benoit wasn't being given many opportunities to score inside Saturday night against St. Edward senior Cece Rapp.
So the 6-foot Benoit stepped outside, then to the free throw line, to help her team win the game.
Benoit's 3-pointer with 1:49 to play and her free throw with 2 seconds left in the game helped the Whip-Purs hold off St. Edward 36-35 in a nonconference girls basketball game on Hampshire's Pack the Place night.
"I'm trying to be a more well-rounded player and play outside more," said Benoit, who finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals in the defensive battle. "My defense helped keep me sane tonight. It was really frustrating."
Benoit rarely sees a 6-3 player like Rapp defending her but with the game on the line Benoit was able to draw a foul and hit the game-winning free throw after the Green Wave (14-7) had come back from an 8-point halftime deficit to force the issue in a fourth quarter that saw three ties and four lead changes.
"She got frustrated but she stuck with it, got her mind right and kept going," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly of Benoit. "The last play of the game we called her number and she stepped up."
Hampshire (15-5), which also beat the Wave at the Lisle Christmas tournament. controlled the first half despite committing 13 turnovers as the Wave could make only 3 of their 20 field goal attempts in the first 16 minutes. But that cold shooting haunted Hampshire in the third quarter as the Whips went 2-for-9 and were outscored 12-5. St. Edward went on an 8-0 run in the final 3:37 of the quarter, pulling to within 27-26 on 2 free throws by senior Ryann Scully with 1 second left in the period. Two free throws from Rapp with 5:49 to play gave the Wave their first lead since 2-1 and the chess match was on.
With Hampshire holding a tentative 32-31 lead, Benoit stepped outside and hit a 3 with 1:49 to go to make it 35-31. But senior Casey Gredzieleski's putback and 2 more Rapp free throws tied the game at 35 with 58 seconds left.
Featherly called time out with 13.5 to play, Benoit was fouled shooting with 2.2 left and made 1 of 2 from the line to put the Whips up 36-35. Gredzieleski's heave from half-court at the buzzer was on target but short.
"It's not how we drew it up but we stuck with it," said Featherly. "The girls battled and played hard. We had a lineup in there we don't normally have."
That was because junior Nikki Dumoulin, who scored 10 points and hit two 3-pointers, fouled out with 5:23 left in the game, but the Whips got steady play from junior Miah Thompson off the bench and only turned the ball over four times in the fourth quarter. Senior Claudia Lazar also had a strong game for the Whips with 8 points. Hampshire outrebounded the Green Wave 29-23, led by 8 from sophomore Peyton DeChant.
Rapp scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds for the Wave, while freshman Yssa Sto. Domingo had 7 points and 3 steals.
"We were just off tonight," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson, whose team likely lost out on a shot at the No. 3 seed in next month's Class 3A Sycamore regional with the loss. "Our passing was off, our shots were off and we just weren't in sync. There was effort and we played hard we just didn't have any finesse to our game tonight."