Doyle does it all against York

Benet junior guard Kathleen Doyle blew up York's game plan for Friday night's nonconference girls basketball game in Elmhurst.

The Redwings got out to a big lead, then held on at the end against a late York comeback, securing a 60-49 triumph.

"I said defend her at the 3-point line at arm's distance, and guess what?" York coach John Constable asked rhetorically about Doyle, who has received numerous Division I college scholarship offers. "She couldn't miss tonight. When you have a player like her caliber, who is going to beat you in so many ways, you have to live or die with one way or the other.

"Our emphasis was let's have her kill us from 3 and not beat us off the dribble and break us down in the paint. That's kind of how we started the game. You could say there was an adjustment when we decided to come out and really get the ball out of her hands."

Doyle finished with 16 points, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. She made four 3-pointers in the game and was 6 of 8 from the floor.

"She was en fuego, wasn't she?" asked Benet coach Joe Kilbride. "We were running a play for her to drive to the basket, and she was pulling up from the arc, like, three times in a row. That's a pretty good adjustment. She was on fire. When she shoots like that, she's unstoppable. You can't guard her."

A 14-point Benet run led to a 24-11 advantage after the first quarter. York narrowed the lead to 9 on Megan Backman's 3-pointer with 5:11 to play in the second quarter. Doyle answered with three consecutive 3-pointers of her own to start a 13-0 run that led to a 44-22 halftime lead for Benet (25-3).

"I just took what they were giving me," Doyle said, "and my team was supporting me the whole way. They got me open. Once they're falling, you just keep shooting."

Meanwhile, York (18-7) was getting most of its scoring from behind the 3-point arc also. Eleven of the Dukes' 15 baskets were 3-pointers. They attempted 25 3-point shots.

"We shot the ball decent," Constable said. "I've got no complaints with how we shot the ball. I've got some complaints with the defensive end of the floor, obviously. Transition defense in the first half killed us. Just absolutely killed us."

Both teams went deep into their benches in the second half, and York cut the lead to 9 points on Kaylin Kenny's 3-pointer. That forced the Benet starters to return to the floor with 1:39 to play, and they ran out the clock.

"They're a really good team," Constable said, "and I thought our girls played hard. But they saw tonight what a top five in the state caliber-type team looks like. Every single one can defend. Every single one can shoot. Every single one can put the ball on the floor, and that's really hard to game plan for and really hard to defend."

Emily Schramek added 15 points for the Redwings, and Emily Eshoo had 9.

Backman led York with 12 points off the bench.

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