Benet Girls Set for Fenwick Showdown

LISLE – Coming off a huge win over previously unbeaten Marist Saturday and with another big game looming Saturday at Fenwick, Wednesday's East Suburban Catholic Conference game against St. Viator could have been a classic trap game for Benet's girls basketball team.

The Redwings did not allow that to happen, however.

Benet dominated the first half, building a 24-point lead on the Lions and held on for a 53-43 win.

"We felt good because we took our Marist win over and we were playing well," Benet senior Ashley Veselik said. "We came out with intensity because one of our goals is to win conference. We knew we beat Marist, but we couldn't come out flat against Viator because that would ruin our goals."

An 11-0 run in the first quarter got things started for Benet (6-3 overall, 2-0 ESCC). After St. Viator (3-5, 0-2) scored to start the second quarter and cut the lead to 16-8, however, Benet was thoroughly dominant. The Redwings finished the half on a 16-0 run. St. Viator was only able to put up eight shots from the field in the entire half, hitting two of them. Benet forced 19 turnovers in the half.

"First half, I was happy with the defense, obviously," Benet coach Peter Paul said. "We held them to eight points. We're happy with the win. It was a game that we hoped we would win because Saturday's a big one for us at Fenwick. It will be interesting."

St. Viator hung around in the second half as Paul substituted frequently, allowing all 16 players on his roster get some game action. That didn't stop St. Viator senior Taylor Skala from singlehandedly trying to keep the Lions in the game.

After scoring only eight points in the first three quarters, Skala scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter. She also had 10 steals and seven rebounds.

"She did a nice job," Paul said. "Once she gets a head of steam up, she's tough to stop. Give credit to her."

Paul wasn't all that concerned about the fact that the Redwings allowed 35 second-half points to St. Viator, pointing to the use of his whole roster, but Veselik recalled that problem in earlier losses.

"The second half does concern us because against Bartlett and Trinity earlier in the season, we were up in the first half and we kept letting the lead go," said Veselik, who led Benet with 17 points. "Against good teams, we're going to lose if we do that. The first half doesn't matter. We have to play well the whole game."

 The battle-tested Redwings lost three straight prior to the Marist win, but two of the losses came to unbeaten Bartlett and the other came to powerful Trinity. Benet gets another chance on a big stage Saturday at Fenwick.

"They're good, but I think we feel good about ourselves," Paul said. "We've got an opportunity to do something that we haven't done for a while, so hopefully it will work out."