Benet calms down, earns matchup vs. Simeon

The reason for Benet's slow start in Tuesday's Class 4A girls basketball regional semifinal? Too much caffeine.

Or something like that.

"The girls were a little excited," Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. "The first four or five minutes of that game it was like they'd never played basketball before. I told them, I don't know if you all had, like, two Mountain Dews, three Red Bulls and a Starbucks double espresso, but it looked like it.

"We were just a little excited, and that's normal. Playoffs, you get a little too pumped up, and if you're not used to that adrenaline it can get to you."

The Redwings burned off whatever was fueling their excess energy, bouncing back for a 53-32 victory against Hinsdale South in the first semifinal at the Benet regional.

"I think we were a little up on adrenaline," Benet junior Kendall Holmes said. "We came out of this wanting to win. We know it's playoffs. Everybody's going to be playing really hard. We didn't play too well in the first half and at halftime we came in, we grouped together and we talked, and we were like, we don't want to let this one get away from us. We want to go out there and just fix our mistakes."

Simeon defeated Downers Grove South 71-50 in the second semifinal, setting up what is probably the toughest regional final in the state, set for 7 p.m. Thursday in Lisle.

"Our entire sectional is full of great teams, and those are the teams you want to play," Holmes said. "It's very competitive for us."

The 14th-seeded Hornets (15-14) forced 11 first-half turnovers, trailing Benet just 18-14 at the break.

"The first half we were just terrible," Kilbride said.

Clara Prasse's 3-pointer with 2:53 left in the third quarter gave the third-seeded Redwings (24-5) their first double-digit lead, 31-19. Ashley Berry's left-handed lay-in with 4:50 left in the fourth boosted the score to 47-28.

"We didn't do well enough in the season to not play in a play-in game," said Hornets coach Scott Tanaka, whose team beat Proviso West in the regional quarterfinals Monday. "But it's tough playing in the play-in game and then come back the next night and play again. We just ran out of gas. I really believe that. I believe equal rest we could've beat that team, I really do. I'm really proud of our girls."

Hornets freshman guard Kennedi Perkins got Benet's attention early. She scored 12 of the Hornets' 14 first-half points and finished with 21.

"She's very good," Kilbride said. "I'd not seen her a lot. I saw a little bit of them just prepping, but I didn't realize she was that good, quite honestly. She gave us some trouble. It took us a while to figure out what we were going to do with her."

Junior Brooke Schramek led Benet with 10 points, Ashley Konkle scored 9 and Prasse 8.

No. 11 seed Downers Grove South also got off to a good start in Game 2, taking two first-quarter leads and trailing just 14-13 after one quarter.

No. 5 Simeon pulled away in the second quarter to a 32-19 lead.

Meghan Stapleton led the Mustangs (14-10) with 23 points, and Maggie Greco added 17.

"They played hard," coach Lyndsie Long said of her Mustangs. "We didn't have the size advantage. We knew that going into the game. That's why we came out in a zone. They played well defensively, I think, overall."

The Mustangs were without 6-foot-1 senior Holly Lueken, who injured her ankle a couple of weeks ago.

"It's pretty bad," Long said. "We could've used her. We could've used a lot of players. We played with two original starters since Christmas. It's been a rough year."