Benet rallies from 12 down to oust Batavia
Down 12 points early against Batavia in the Class 4A Hinsdale South championship game Thursday night, Benet didn't panic.
The Redwings knew it didn't matter how long they led that counted - it was when they led.
Batavia scored four seconds into the game and led the next 29 and a half minutes. Anne Doyle's free throws with 2:27 remaining put Benet ahead for the first time, then after Batavia went back on top, Nicki Bell's free throws with 24.7 seconds left proved to be the game-winners in the Redwings' 49-46 come-from-behind win.
Fifth-seed Benet's (19-11) reward is a date with top-seed Bolingbrook, fresh off a 41-point win Thursday, in Monday's Waubonsie Valley sectional semifinals. Bolingbrook beat Benet 53-28 earlier this year.
There's enough time to worry about that daunting assignment. Benet was too busy celebrating its 11th regional title in the last 13 years while denying Batavia what would have been its first regional since 1990.
"Give credit to Batavia, that's a very good team. They had us and we kind of fought our way back," Benet coach Peter Paul said.
"It's a game my seniors will always remember because we weren't supposed to win. Down the stretch I thought we played very intelligently."
Batavia's year ends at 22-5. The Bulldogs led 29-21 at halftime, then only made 2 of 12 field goal attempts in the second half, including 0 of 5 in the fourth quarter.
"We did well this year, I'm just sad it is over," Batavia senior Natalie Tarter said. "We just couldn't finish out."
Becca Heimsath gave Batavia its last lead at 46-45 with two free throws with 57 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs got a stop but missed two free throws that could have extended their lead.
Bell was fouled driving to the basket, and calmly - or not so calmly - sank both free throws for a 47-46 lead.
"My teammates were all around me telling me to clam down, telling me not to worry about it," Bell said. "If I miss it tomorrow is just another day. That helped a lot, knowing they aren't going to hate me if I miss it."
Doyle followed with a steal, Batavia's eighth turnover of the fourth quarter and 15th in the second half. Jess Pavlinec's 2 free throws put the Redwings ahead by 3, which held up for the win when Kara Lydon's 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.
Benet drained 10 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter.
"We practice free throws every day and when the season is on the line we need to step up and hit those," Doyle said. "We definitely knew what was at stake."
Batavia jumped on Benet early. Melissa Norville and Tarter combined for 14 points and 13 rebounds in the first half, and Batavia twice built its lead to 12.
Benet got back in the game with its pressure defense. The 23 turnovers Benet forced negated Batavia's 34-23 rebounding advantage.
"At first we didn't know if were going to be able to pressure them because Tarter is so quick, their ballhandlers are very good," Doyle said. "But luckily we were able to execute the traps and get the steals and runouts we needed."
Sophomore Danielle Canulli came off the bench to lead Benet with 12 points, including a 3-pointer she banked in with 4:02 remaining that cut Batavia's lead to 42-40. Doyle and Pavlinec both scored 11.
"The banked 3 was tough," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "We still had a decent lead at that point. Maybe that was a little bit of a sign that it wasn't our night."
Lydon led Batavia with 13 points, including the Bulldogs' only 2 second-half field goals. Tarter added 11 and Norville 8.
"We didn't finish the job and Benet did," DeBruycker said. "All we needed was that one little push and we keep the game. But you can't do the little things wrong and win in an atmosphere like this against a team like this.
"We have played pretty aggressive all year long and we stopped that. We let them dictate the pace too much and didn't continue to go to the basket. We were tentative, we were on our heels."
Batavia graduates a talented senior class including Tarter, Lydon, Norville and Heimsath that helped the Bulldogs go from 13 wins their sophomore years to 21 last season and 22 this year.
"I'm very proud of the girls," DeBruycker said. "After last season a lot of people had high expectations for this team and I think we met them. We didn't get a couple trophies, we didn't win conference, let's forget about what we didn't win and remember what we did do. We still won 20-plus games, which when you have a target on your back - which we didn't have last year, we kind of snuck up on people. This year we had to take everyone's best shot night in and night out. I think we did an excellent job of that."