Benet ready for anything at state

This girls basketball season hasn't been easy for Benet. That was planned.

"Maybe I'm different in this regard, but I sort of feel a part of the process in getting to here is to manufacture some adversity for the kids along the way," Redwings coach Joe Kilbride said. "Maybe this seems weird, but I don't ever want to go undefeated. I feel like if we did that I didn't challenge them enough.

"A little bit of adversity sort of points out where we have difficulties, where we have weaknesses and helps me get their attention to correcting those things."

That adversity in the regular season helped Benet manage probably the toughest path any team had through the Class 4A playoffs. Hinsdale South, Chicago Public League runner-up Simeon, Public League champ Whitney Young, 2017 state runner-up Montini and Oswego each presented problems for Benet.

None could stop the Redwings from a berth in the Class 4A semifinals this weekend at Redbird Arena in Normal.

"I think the fact that we've been tested against some really good teams along the way, there was no blink in the girls. There was no flinch, there was no, we haven't seen this before. We had to make adjustments, but I think we were well-prepared for the challenge," Kilbride said.

Right on schedule, Benet is playing its best basketball of the season.

"We kind of ran the gauntlet here. Our sectional was loaded," Kilbride said, noting wins against 15 teams that won regional titles.

"Not only are our losses against great teams but our wins are against really excellent teams also, by and large," he said.

There's one loss that stands out in Benet's 28-5 record. The Dec. 2 60-40 defeat to Mother McAuley was by far the biggest margin of the Redwings' five losses.

Benet plays Mother McAuley (33-2) at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the first Class 4A semifinal. Undefeated Maine West plays Rockton Hononegah in the other semifinal.

Junior guard Jenna Badali leads the Mighty Macs in scoring at 15.4 points a game. Nails-tough senior guard/forward Grace Hynes averages 13.9 points, often mixing it up with bigger players in the lane.

Mother McAuley's only two losses were to Montini.

Benet will have obvious advantages in height and depth. The Redwings start three girls 6-foot-1 or taller and can bring two more off the bench. Several of the Redwings have received scholarship offers from Division I colleges, including some non-starters. Few teams have that kind of depth.

"The downside of it is there's 10 girls, 12 girls that deserve to be starting, right? But you can't do that," Kilbride said. "The good side is it gives me the versatility to match up different ways. So against bigger, more physical teams we've been able to put a bigger lineup out there. Against smaller teams we've been able to sort of downshift and match up to that when necessary. Then we also see who's got it going a little bit and ride that."

Benet appears much more ready for Mother McAuley than it was in December.