Benet overcomes St. Viator

It was hard not to be impressed by St. Viator guard Taylor Skala's fourth-quarter performance Wednesday night against Benet.

Skala scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the final period, while also picking 10 steals and grabbing 8 rebounds in the game. However, Benet handed the Lions another East Suburban Catholic Conference loss 53-43 after the Redwings ran out to a 32-8 halftime lead thanks to their mistake-prone opponent.

“You don't win with 19 turnovers,” said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness about the disappointing first half. “We have to be better with the ball. They're a good defensive team and they knew what we were doing and they did a great job of it. They frustrated us and we hit the panic button.”

The Redwings (6-3, 2-0) hit 13 field goals and five 3-pointers in the first half, compared with just 2 field goals by St. Viator (3-5, 0-2). Benet senior Ashley Veselik had 10 of her team-high 17 points in the half, while Sidney Prasse hit four 3s and finished the game with 16 points.

“We joke about how we live and die by the 3 because we're all short,” Veselik said, “but every game we have someone who is on because we have eight 3-point shooters who have all consistently hit 3s.”

Because of the lead, Benet coach Peter Paul got 16 players in the game, allowing the Lions to close the margin late with Skala leading the charge.

“We played well,” Paul said about the first half. “In the second we subbed liberally and occasionally they made a little run and we had to go back to our starters. All in all, we needed an opportunity for our kids to play. ... Give credit to St. Viator, they fought us to the end.”

Now Benet is in a solid position heading into a big conference game Saturday against Fenwick, but the Redwings know it won't be easy.

“They're good,” Paul said. “We feel good about ourselves going in and we have an opportunity to do something we haven't done before.”