Benet will play for state title
NORMAL - Benet was not about to allow Homewood-Flossmoor's fast-paced game to alter its game plan.
After all the Redwings can play a pretty quick game themselves, as they proved with an entertaining 77-71 win over H-F in the Class 4A girls basketball semifinals Friday night at Redbird Arena.
"We told the kids at halftime it's not going to be pretty and that we're just going to have to outscore them," said Benet coach Joe Kilbride. "We tried to push the tempo in the second half, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I couldn't be happier for the kids. I thought they did a great job today."
Senior Emily Eshoo led the Redwings (33-3) with 29 points, including five 3-pointers. Senior Kathleen Doyle had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists for Benet, which will play in its first state championship game at 8:15 p.m. Saturday against Fremd. The Redwings defeated Fremd 61-54 in January at the McDonald's Shootout.
"All 29 points really counted, but it didn't matter how many points I scored, I just wanted to do what I could to help the team win," said Eshoo, who was also 8 of 10 from the free-throw line.
"We knew we could run with them and we didn't want to change our game plan just because they could run," Doyle said.
Benet turned a 16-15 deficit after one quarter into a 38-31 halftime lead when Eshoo nailed a 3 from the left corner with two seconds left.
The Redwings led by as many as 16 points after a short jumper from junior Elise Stout with 25 seconds left in the third. But H-F (20-7) came charging back with an 11-0 run to close the gap to 57-52 early in the fourth quarter.
Benet, playing in just its second state final tournament and first since 1998, led 60-54 when Vikings coach Anthony Smith was hit with a technical foul with 4:39 left to play. Eshoo, who was fouled on the call that earned Smith the technical, made 3 of 4 from the line, and 10 seconds later Doyle was fouled and made both free throws to give the Redwings a 65-54 lead.
"It's always nice to play with a little cushion," Kilbride said. "We were playing what we call a minute or a layup - keep the ball for at least a minute or get a layup - and that (foul and technical) was helpful at that point."
H-F did come back to cut Benet's lead to 3 on three occasions, the last time at 72-69 on a Faith Suggs basket with 41 seconds to play. But sophomore Katie Jaseckas made 1 of 2 from the line while Stout and Eshoo combined to go 4 of 4 in the final 38 seconds to seal the win and the Redwings' place in the state championship game.
"Mr. Kilbride told us way back in September that March 7 is our date," Doyle said. "We've been working so hard for this. It's awesome to be here and now to play for the state championship."
The Redwings finished 21 of 32 from the line in a game that featured a total of 124 field-goal attempts and 58 free throws. Benet was 24 of 61 from the field, and even though the Redwings were outrebounded 46-35, they made 8 of 19 from 3-point range while H-F was 1 of 14.
Nadia Green led H-F, playing at state for just the second time and first since 1997, with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Bria Stallworth and Ariana Dampier had 15 points each and Suggs had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"It was a tough game," Smith said. "I thought my young ladies played hard and I applaud their efforts but Benet's a tough team. They hit some tough shots and they earned it."