Benet endures a difficult night against Marist
Benet had one of those nights Friday when nothing goes right. Marist had a lot to do with that.
The Redwings fell behind visiting Marist early and never could catch up. They lost 64-45 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball game in Lisle.
"We got beat," Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. "They were the better team tonight, beginning to end. That's every facet. They outran us, which has been our thing. We weren't able to press them. They outrebounded us. They shot the ball extremely well, at least it felt like it to me.
"They were good. We didn't do a good job defensively. They were good. They just beat us today. Plain and simple."
Marist (21-3, 4-0) jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter, then 37-23 at halftime. But although the Redwings came back from a 13-point halftime deficit Monday against Bradley-Bourbonnais at the Subway Classic, Marist made sure there would be no comeback again.
Benet (19-3, 3-1), the defending ESCC champion and two-time defending Class 4A champ, tried to rally a few times, but it never got closer than 11 points in the second half.
"We've been starting poorly, and we started poorly again today," Kilbride said. "You do that and all of a sudden a team starts thinking, Hey, we can win the game, and the next thing you know they're right. ... It's been a little bit of a pattern here lately, and it's not a good pattern. It really caught us here tonight."
Claire Prasse came off the Benet bench and hit four 3-pointers, leading the Redwings with 16 points. Tsimba Malonga added 12 points on a night when the Redwings made just 16 of 52 shots from the floor.
"Prasse made some shots for us," Kilbride said. "Tsimba hit a couple, but even she struggled. I kept sort of subbing. Honestly, I was just trying to find somebody who was going to make a shot, and I came up empty kind of."
Marist is in good position to win the ESCC after this win.
"Oh, my (goodness)," said Marist coach Mary Pat Connolly, who couldn't remember the last time the RedHawks won at Benet. "I don't want to overlook games. ... Tonight was important."
Marist has three ESCC games left.
Abigail Callahan scored 16 to lead Marist, and Julia Ruzevich added 13.
"Hopefully, this is a little bit of a wake-up call and we bring sort of a different mindset to practice and preparation," Kilbride said. "And we find out what we're mind of."