Benet romps in opener

Benet's players were tired of colliding and banging against each other in preseason practices, so they took out their allotted scrimmages on visiting St. Ignatius on Wednesday night in Lisle.

Showcasing depth and balanced scoring, Benet broke free from a back-and-forth first quarter to pull away from the Wolfpack 54-35 in the teams' season opener.

"We feel we have more skill than we did in the past; however, we don't have as much height," said Benet coach Peter Paul.

Junior guard Danielle Canulli sparked the Redwings' offense early, converting a 3-point play and 3-point basket, and Gintare Sankauskaite, in what would be a trend for Benet, beat the first-quarter buzzer to give the hosts a 16-12 cushion after one quarter.

"We were all anxious to get out there," Canulli said. "We have been playing well in practice. We're very energetic."

St. Ignatius had a better performance than the Redwings from the field, at least percentage-wise, but the Catholic League school had its opener marred by turnovers all evening.

"We turned the ball over probably more times than I have ever seen us turn it over before," St. Ignatius coach Katie Boyce said.

With 15 shot attempts in the first half, Benet took a double-digit lead off a Nicole Valentine bucket midway through the second quarter. The Redwings hit the Wolfpack with waves of substitutions, and the end result was not only 11 of the 12 players finding the scoring column but also a greater advantage in steals, rebounds and blocks.

"We all came in fresh with new legs," said senior forward Nikki Bell, who paced the Redwings with 12 points. "I thought that helped us out a lot. We played very well as a team."

The Benet defense limited St. Ignatius to a pair of field goals in both the second and third quarters, and junior reserve forward Claire Munaretto had back-to-back field goals, the last with a second left in the third, to give the squad a commanding 44-25 lead heading into the final quarter.

St. Ignatius' Danielle Lewandowski led all scorers with 14 points.

"It's the first game," Boyce said. "It's a gauge to where you have to go."