Benet clips Naperville Central in OT for title

Benet and Naperville Central each learned a little about themselves Saturday night in the Benet/Naperville Central Tip Off Tournament championship game.

Girls basketball fans learned both teams can be very entertaining to watch, especially against each other.

The Redwings came from behind in the third quarter, fought through a back-and-forth fourth quarter, rallied from a 4-point deficit with 46 seconds left in the fourth to force overtime and then defeated the Redhawks 70-63.

"We finished strong," said Benet senior guard Tsimba Malonga. "Our start was not the best, but we finished real good."

The host Redhawks (4-1) took a 59-55 lead with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Benet sophomore Kendall Holmes hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds to go. Then Holmes stole a Naperville Central pass and was fouled going to the basket with 1.5 seconds on the clock. Her free throw sent the game to overtime tied at 59.

"I think Kendall has improved a lot since last year," Malonga said. "I think that play showed a lot of what she's capable of doing, how she's able to make a lot of steals, make a lot of baskets. I was very proud of her. Without Kendall we wouldn't be in this position."

"She's been sick lately, and it's affected her a little bit," added Benet coach Joe Kilbride. "But I think she got well with about two minutes to go in the game there. Fortunately, that was a very timely recovery. She's a good defender and she plays hard."

The Redwings (5-1) took control in overtime when sophomore Brooke Schramek converted a three-point play and Malonga scored to make the score 66-61 with 2:20 left. The Redhawks never got closer than 3 points the rest of the game.

The Redhawks led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter.

"Overall we're kind of proud of ourselves," Naperville Central senior guard Mia Lakstigala said. "We came out hard. We weren't intimidated by their press."

Malonga finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Schramek added 12 points, junior Lauren Stack 11 and Holmes scored 10.

"Tsimba was really, really good today," Kilbride said of the University of Denver recruit, who scored 18 points after halftime. "Honestly, she didn't score a ton in the first half, but she did a great job. They just weren't going for her. But man, second half she was unbelievable today."

Both teams leaned on their star seniors in the fourth quarter, Malonga for Benet and Penn recruit Lakstigala for Naperville Central.

"How many times did it go Mia, Tsimba, Mia, Tsimba?" Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum asked rhetorically of a game that featured 18 lead changes and 6 ties, all but a few in the fourth quarter. "It was like two heavyweight fighters hitting each other, then we had to go to a 16th round. I'm just real proud of our kids. We played real well."

Lakstigala led all scorers with 29 points, notching a double-double with her 13 rebounds. Junior Lucy Schmid scored 14 and senior Maiah DeShazer had 11 points for the Redhawks.