This time around ICCP edges Fenton

It's getting down to brass tacks in the high school girls basketball season. Every win means something more than just numbers on the scoreboard at this time of year.

For IC Catholic Prep, Monday's 57-55 win over host Fenton meant one thing: Momentum, which is crucial with the IHSA playoffs looming.

The Knights, who had held a 41-28 lead near the end of the third quarter, could only watch as the Bison hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and actually crawled back to take a 55-54 lead with 10.9 seconds left.

But junior guard Jaida Smith came the rescue, getting fouled on an inbounds play that put her at the free-throw line at 10.4. She hit the first free throw, then had to wait as Fenton coach Dave Mello called time.

Pressure? Nah. She sank the second, which provided just enough margin for the Knights to win, but they weren't out of the woods just yet.

Fenton inbounded, drove the floor and actually had a wide-open look, but the ball ended up in the hands of ICCP senior forward Kiersten King, who was fouled and hit a free throw to set the final score.

"I wasn't really focusing on missing," Smith said of her crucial freebies. "I was focusing on my team needing me to come down and knock these down. I had more confidence after the timeout. I just felt like I was going to make it regardless.

"This is a great momentum boost going into the playoffs," she said. "We're going to take the win and bring it to the next one."

ICCP coach Kelsey James was, in her words, "decompressing" postgame after the win that improved the Knights to 8-17 and 3-8 in the Metro Suburban Blue. It was also a big improvement over a 74-56 loss to the Bison before Christmas.

"I think they came in and shot like 60 percent from the field," she said of that loss. "We were so defeated after the game, so we came in today and had our game plan ready to go and executed what we needed to do. I think after the first two quarters the girls were like, Wow, we can do this."

They could, but it wasn't without perhaps a little bit of luck. The late turnover is one example, of course, but so is the fact that Fenton put up 37 3-point shots and made 8 of them. Just one more would have given the Bison the win.

"We've taken 73 (3-pointers) in a game this year, and 67, and that's what we do," said Mello, whose team is within striking distance of the national girls record for 3-point attempts of 1,247. "We shoot a lot of 3s, and for three quarters, when they're not falling, we've got to deal with it."

They did, and a three-point play by junior Ashley Lira with 44.6 seconds left and a layup from another junior, Alexus Arzola, at 18.7, gave the Bison the brief lead. But it wasn't quite enough.

Fenton (8-14, 4-7) got 9 points and 5 rebounds from team leading scorer Amari Benbow, a senior, who was in her first game back after a right ankle issue sidelined her for a game.

"It felt like I could have done better at the beginning, but I started getting back into the swing of things in the second half," Benbow said.