advertisement

Benet's growth outpaces Fremd's

Benet and Fremd are both going through some growing pains with young teams, but clearly the Vikings are experiencing the more severe case.

Benet captured a 63-37 girls basketball victory Wednesday night at the Benet/Naperville North Holiday Tournament in Lisle.

Playing all but a couple of minutes without its lone senior starter, University of Denver-bound guard Tsimba Malonga, because of a knee injury, Benet (11-1) scored the game's first 10 points. The Redwings never trailed, though the Vikings (8-5) came close in the third quarter.

"Our young kids are talented, they've just got to learn to get to a certain level on a daily basis," said Benet coach Joe Kilbride, whose team has won 11 straight. "And that's the hard part when you're young."

The Redwings showed it can play at a high level even without Malonga, taking a 26-17 lead at halftime.

The Vikings chipped into the lead early in the third quarter, with sophomore Emily Klaczek scoring 9 points during a run that cut the lead to 2 points.

"We calmed down a little bit and started making layups," Fremd coach Dave Yates said. "I mean, we got down early in the beginning of the game because we missed like eight layups. And then we calmed down and we started attacking the basket and getting good shots and stopping them. And then it stopped." 999

The momentum quickly switched sides, with Benet scoring the next 12 points. The lead kept growing from there.

"I think we just had to calm down a little, just take a breath," Benet sophomore Kendall Holmes said, "because we trying to rush things too much and then as a team we were able to work it out and get that lead back."

"I thought they just kind of locked in defensively," Kilbride added. "Our kids really, our effort level was really, really good in that third quarter, full court and the half court."

Holmes led all scorers with 17 points.

"I feel like we just moved the ball well," Holmes said. "I was able to get some open shots, and they were able to hit me with (passes). I was able to knock them down tonight."

Sophomore Brooke Schramek added 12 points and 4 assists.

"Holmes had a really good game. Brooke kind of imposed her will around the game a little bit, beginning of the third quarter around the basket, putting a lot of pressure on them at the rim," Kilbride said.

Klaczek led the Vikings with 14 points.

"You can look at our roster," Yates said. "We have freshmen, sophomores. This whole everything I would call up to Jan. 1 is a learning experience. We don't have veterans to fall back on ... It's a lot of new kids that are cutting their teeth out there."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.