Benet Redwings can't catch up
Trailing by 9 points deep in the fourth quarter, Benet's girls basketball team knew it needed to construct a timely run in order to eke out a home win over Providence.
While the Redwings fought back admirably, they were ultimately unable to overcome Providence's late lead, eventually succumbing 40-35 Wednesday night in Lisle.
Junior guard Annie Gallagher did everything she could to keep Benet (3-8) alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of her team-high 16 points in the final period.
"My favorite thing is to shoot the 3," Gallagher, who made a pair of 3s in the fourth quarter, said. "We're just trying to do a lot more shooting, because earlier in the season our offense was purely to pass the ball, pass the ball. We never got a good shot.
"At the end we just started doing 3-pointers and just trying to get the ball up in the air, because then we could rebound."
Gallagher left the Redwings little opportunity for putbacks in the fourth quarter, as she sank 4 of her 5 field-goal attempts. Still, while Benet never felt out of it, the Redwings were unable to cut Providence's lead to less than 4 points in the final quarter.
Benet coach Peter Paul felt his team may have lost the game in the second quarter, when the Celtics put together a 12-2 run, taking a 19-9 lead in the process.
"We just had that one little stretch in the second quarter where we stayed on 9 (points) for quite a while," Paul said. "That kind of won the game for them, and we just never were able to make it all the way back.
"I thought we battled hard, I thought we took care of the basketball a little bit better, we got a little bit better shooting, and I think that we're going to take some baby steps."
The Celtics' Michelle Karr came to play right out of the gates, scoring 15 of Providence's 21 first-half points.
"She's what we call a gamer," Providence coach Eileen Copenhaver said. "There's a lot of people that don't know about Michelle. She's one heck of an athlete. She's got the big frame body but yet can run (and has) good instincts."
The Celtics (8-4) shot 11 of 16 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, allowing them to keep Benet at a reasonably safe distance. Karr led all scorers with a game-high 23 points while shooting 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.