Benet wins seventh straight regional
Two down, five to go.
That was the message Benet coach Joe Kilbride gave his team following Thursday's 64-27 victory against Waubonsie Valley in the Class 4A Plainfield North regional final.
The top-seeded Redwings, ranked No. 1 in the state by the AP, are five wins away from their goal of winning a third state championship in six years, so the postgame celebration was somewhat muted.
"I don't take regionals for granted," Kilbride said. "We've won a lot of them, but here's a lot of schools that don't win regionals hardly ever.
"It's a nice accomplishment. I'm very pleased for the girls. We're trying to keep it rolling."
The Redwings (28-2) were rolling from the start despite lingering effects from a flu bug that caused several players to miss multiple days of school. They used a withering full-court press to force six turnovers in the first quarter and jumped out to a 15-2 lead, which they increased to 33-11 at halftime.
DePaul-bound Kendall Holmes sank four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points and 6 rebounds. Wisconsin signee Brooke Schramek, Nebraska recruit Kendall Moriarty and Molly Sheehan all scored 9 points.
"Coach has been getting on us at practice and I think everybody took pride in their defense today," Holmes said. "We did come out strong and this was one of our strongest starts we've had all season.
"It wasn't just one person. I think all five of us really stepped it up today and got into them defensively and pressured them really well.
"People were making great plays and on the offensive end people made great plays. We were able to knock down shots tonight, so it was really fun to play."
Benet's press, led by Holmes and Moriarty, led to several transition baskets. Ninth-seeded Waubonsie Valley (14-14) made 23 turnovers and shot 4 of 22 in the first half.
The Redwings, meanwhile, were deadly efficient in the half-court offense, using pinpoint passes to create easy backdoor layups. Sheehan dished five assists, while Schramek had three assists and Holmes and Berry two each.
"I think we're all pretty happy with the way that we played," said Moriarty, who had 4 steals. "You can see that we're all hungry to get that state title, so we're willing to do a lot on defense and it's really fun. We were really energetic everywhere."
That energy the Redwings to their seventh straight regional championship. They have captured 21 regionals in the past 24 seasons and 25 overall.
"It feels good," Moriarty said. "It feels good. I know a lot of people don't get the chance to call themselves regional champions, so it feels really good for everyone."
The Redwings will host their own sectional, beginning with Monday's semifinal against fifth-seeded Oswego (21-10), which lost to Benet in last season's supersectional.
"I think we all go into the game with the mentality that this team is playing just as hard as us and on any day, anybody can knock down shots," Holmes said. "If we're not hitting our shots, we know they can win this game just as much as we can and we can't take anybody for granted at this point."
But the Redwings will be hard to stop if they play like they did against Waubonsie.
"I did not expect that outcome," Kilbride said. "Waubonsie is a good team.
"We're putting things together at the right time and I thought our execution on both ends was really good today."