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Fremd defeats Benet in third overtime

The undefeated run of Fremd's girls basketball team ran into a formidable foe in the Montini Christmas tournament on Thursday night.

But the Vikings dug deep in the triple-overtime thriller against Benet, outlasting the Redwings 59-54 in a quarterfinal matchup that won't soon be forgotten.

In improving to 17-0, Fremd advanced to Friday's 8:15 p.m. semifinal against Nazareth.

"I'm proud of our girls for hanging in there," Fremd coach Dave Yates said. "They kept battling. We've beaten some good teams, but this is the first elite team we've run across."

The Vikings took the lead for good on a three-point play by Olivia Hill with less than a minute remaining in the third overtime. Ruthie Montella, who was a perfect 10 of 10 from the free-throw line, then knocked down a pair of free throws to account for the final margin.

"It's so exciting," said Hill, who scored a game-high 21 points. "I'm so shook right now. We haven't beaten Benet in a while. Everyone stepped up tonight. We haven't played an overtime game, so it was exciting to have that pressure on us and pull through."

Fremd almost didn't get that chance. After leading 20-12 at halftime and 26-19 at the end of three quarters, the Vikings watched as Benet battled back. Clara Prasse hit a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth to pull the Redwings within 2 before Kendall Holmes knocked down a 3 from the left corner to give her team a 36-35 lead with 30 seconds left in regulation.

Benet (16-3) extended the margin to three with 3.2 seconds remaining on two free throws by Prasse, but Grace Labarge hit a 30-footer as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Labarge again knotted the score at the end of the first extra session, making a free throw with 2.1 seconds left. In the second overtime Hill tied the score at 49 with 18 seconds left after another Holmes 3-pointer had given Benet the lead.

"That was a great game," Benet coach Joe Kilbride. "We had 12 points at half, but our kids battled back. Holmes had some big plays, Ashley Konkle played well and Clara was huge the whole game. We had it won in regulation, but Grace made a tremendous shot.

"I told the kids they have nothing to hang their heads about. They played a tremendous game and battled. It was a good game with an unfortunate ending for the Redwings."

Prasse led Benet with 17 points, Holmes finished with 15 and Konkle had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Klaczek added 11 points for Fremd.

"We have a team that is so selfless," Hill said. "We really work so well as a team. Nobody out there is playing for ourselves, we are playing for our team. It's awesome to be able to say that."

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