Redwings win, but Tigers see progress

Benet was in a zone for a quarter.

It was a struggle when Wheaton Warrenville South went zone after that.

The Redwings raced out to a 21-6 lead at Saturday's Naperville North/Benet Holiday Tournament in Lisle but had to hang on for a 40-37 win over the Tigers.

WW South coach Rob Kroehnke couldn't be too displeased afterward. The 40 points tied for the lowest total the Tigers (2-9) have allowed all season.

"I told the girls at half that's probably the best we've played our zone all year," Kroehnke said. "It seemed like we slowed them down, because they were moving the ball around well early. That's just good defense."

Benet (7-7) came out smoking early. A 13-0 run in the first quarter capped off by a Jess Pavlinec jumper gave the Redwings a 15-4 lead. Benet shot 7 of 10 from the field in the first quarter, with seven girls scoring. A 3-pointer by Gintare Sankauskaite made it 18-6 after a quarter, and Annie Gallagher's triple a minute into the second made it 21-6.

But WW South countered with a 1-3-1 matchup zone, and Benet shot just 5 of 23 the rest of the way.

"It was our goal to come out, get ahead, run the floor and shoot well. That's exactly what we did in the first quarter," Benet senior Anne Doyle said. "Give credit to (WW South). I think that zone gave us some trouble."

The Tigers pulled within 26-19 midway through the third quarter on a Katie Ottolin score, and Annie Shain's 3-pointer with 5:42 left in the game made it a 7-point spread again. But 27 turnovers doomed a further Tigers comeback. Three-pointers by Shain and Hannah Credille in the game's final seconds made it a one-possession game, Credille's with 1.6 seconds left.

"Too many unforced turnovers. You can't throw the ball away like we did," Kroehnke said. "We're getting there, though."

Shain scored 15 points for WW South and Ottolin had 7 points and 11 rebounds. Doyle scored 8 points and Gallagher 7 for Benet.

"It was our fourth game in a row, because we had St. Joseph before the tournament," said Benet coach Peter Paul, "so maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe it came too easy for us in the first quarter. It was a battle after that."