Benet routs Oswego East for first win of season

A new team starting a new season always wants to get that first win under its belt. For the Benet girls basketball team, it didn't come in a tough opener early this week.

But the Redwings left little doubt that they were coming out on top in Friday's first-round action of the Naperville Central/Benet Tip Off Tournament. Benet (1-1) connected on four 3-pointers early, forced Oswego East into 12 first-quarter turnovers and went on to an 85-25 defeat of the Wolves.

Sophomore forward Lindsey Rogers scored a personal-best 21 points off the bench, while Quin Early added 18 and Brooke Schramek 17 for Redwings, who quickly put Tuesday's loss to St. Ignatius behind them.

"We had a lot of practice and watched a lot of film and learned from our mistakes," said the 6-foot-1 Rogers, who missed a large part of her freshman season with an arm injury. "We ran our plays correctly and just executed today. We had a ton of momentum. I just think we had it going."

Everything was going Benet's way. Clara Prasse hit the first two of her three 3s for an early 14-2 lead, and after Schramek and Earley added long-range scores, it was a 27-8 Benet lead at the quarter, then a 43-12 margin at the half.

"Our shots were falling and we were driving at the right time, which helped a lot," said Schramek, who made 6 of 7 shots from the floor. "We're really good with finding the hot hand, and I think we're really good about not being selfish. It was fun tonight."

Talented guard Tsimba Malonga had 5 assists but just 4 points, yet the hosts still managed to find enough offense to win by 60. Benet's defense did its part by causing 26 turnovers against a young Wolves squad.

"We opened against Ignatius and it was a tough loss. We actually didn't play bad, we just shot really poorly," Redwings coach Joe Kilbride said. "The kids really wanted to get one (tonight) and they did. They kind of jumped on them early and then we made shots."

Kilbride was especially pleased to see Rogers shoot so well. She led a balanced attack with 9 points in the first half and then topped 20 points for the first time at the varsity level.

"She can really shoot it," he said. "I was really happy for Lindsey. She needed to have one of those games. She's a very talented player, and she's only a sophomore. It was nice to see her break out."

Oswego East, which dropped a 2-point opener to West Aurora, just couldn't handle Benet's pressure - or hot shooting - on this night.

"We didn't take care of the basketball early on and then they took advantage of those turnovers," Oswego East coach Abe Carretto said. "We just kept chasing and chasing. It was a little out of control. I feel like Benet controlled the pace of the game constantly with how they play."