Benet not quite right in state semifinal
NORMAL - Benet was left wondering what might have been after Friday night's 48-38 loss to Mother McAuley in a Class 4A semifinal at Redbird Arena.
"We just didn't play our best," Redwings junior Kendall Holmes said.
Credit the gritty Mighty Macs for that. They took a lead early and never let Benet (28-6) have it, though the Redwings came close in the third quarter.
Mother McAuley (34-2) led by as many as 9 points in the first quarter and 7 at halftime.
"I love these girls," Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. "I thought they battled and fought. We just weren't quite ourselves today. We weren't quite able to get into the rhythm we've had here the last month."
The Redwings worked their way back to a 31-30 deficit on an Ashley Konkle free throw with 3:56 left in the third.
"I think we definitely had momentum coming out of halftime," Konkle said.
But Benet went into a drought that lasted more than nine minutes.
"I just think we didn't hit a lot of shots that usually fall for us. Their defense made it difficult. I mean we just didn't play our best basketball. They outworked us today," Benet senior Lauren Stack said.
Added Benet junior Brooke Schramek: "They were very aggressive on the offensive and defensive sides, and I don't know if we just couldn't handle it out there. I don't really know what was happening, but I think we were just rushing everything, couldn't really finish, and then we got frustrated and it affected our whole game. I just don't think we played like we should have."
The Mighty Macs tallied 9 straight points before Holmes scored on a drive with 2:29 to play to cut the deficit to 41-32.
"That's the thing about these kids, our defense keeps us in games, so if we can limit the scoring, even if they get a few, we know we're good enough offensive players it's not going to take us long to knock something down," said Mother McAuley coach Ashley Luke Clanton, a Waubonsie Valley graduate. "So if we can just hang and hang and hang and then get a little bit of a flurry, which we tend to do, we know we're going to be all right."
They were all right in part because they outrebounded the bigger Redwings 35-22 despite not playing anyone taller than 5-foot-11.
"These kids box out," Clanton said. "They box out and a couple of things. They box out well. They're quick to the ball. And we've really got a team of kids that have really good hands, and I think hands are huge when it comes to just about anything. And these kids can catch a ball. So when you're quick to it and you can snag it, that makes it a lot easier."
Meanwhile, the Redwings made just 8 of 19 free throws.
Schramek led Benet with 13 points. Jenna Badali scored 21 for Mother McAuley, and 5-foot-9 senior Grace Hynes added 12 points and 15 rebounds.
The Redwings will finish their season in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against Rockton Hononegah. Hononegah (32-5) lost to undefeated Maine West 56-32.
"It's OK for us to be sad tonight," Holmes said. "We obviously don't want our season to end on a bad note. So tomorrow we just have to pick our heads up and focus on our next game, because it's going to be just as tough a game as it was today. The teams here are the best of the best, so we don't want to go out with a loss on the end of our season."