Beating Benet a big deal to St. Ignatius
When Chicago sports fans hear the name "Lenti," football or perhaps softball probably comes to mind.
But basketball?
"I guess they think Lenti sports," laughed St. Ignatius senior guard Gena Lenti.
Lenti the niece of Mt. Carmel football coach Frank and daughter of DePaul softball coach Eugene scored 20 points and hit what turned out to be the game-winning 3-pointer in the Wolfpack's 52-50 win over No. 6 Benet in Wednesday's season opener in Lisle.
Lenti's postgame brownie wasn't as sweet as gaining a measure of revenge for a four-overtime, 80-76 loss to Benet last year.
"Oh my God I can't tell you how much we wanted to win this," Lenti said. "Everyone thinks that our big rival is McAuley or Loyola, but we've always lost to Benet in the first game. To beat them here, that's a big deal especially after going four overtimes last year."
Lenti's step-back 3 off an inbounds with 1:47 left gave St. Ignatius a 49-47 lead, the Wolfpack's first since the first minute of the second half. Two Lenti free throws made it 51-47, but Benet's Sidney Prasse hit a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left to make it a 1-point game.
Mariah Harris split a pair of free throws for St. Ignatius with 16 seconds left to make it 52-50. On Benet's last possession Harris got her fingertips on a Prasse 3-point attempt that fell short of the rim as time expired.
Benet, which led 43-38 going into the fourth quarter, managed just one basket until the final minute. The Redwings had built a 20-11 advantage early in the second quarter, 27-24 at half. Benet came into Wednesday's opener high off a 24-7 season that included a run to a Class 4A sectional final.
"There were certain aspects to our game that were missing, that weren't there yet tonight," Benet coach Peter Paul said. "I think maybe we thought we were better than we actually are. Time to go back to the drawing board and turn out to be the type of team we expect to be."
On a night when Benet's other shooters were a little off, Madeline Eilers was very on. The Redwings senior came off the bench to hit her first four 3-point attempts and made her fifth after a miss to give Benet a 46-40 lead with 5:43 left. Eilers finished with 15 points, just behind Prasse's team-high 16.
"Thank God for that," Paul said. "The score would have been lopsided if she hadn't hit those 3s."
Benet was hurt by St. Ignatius 6-foot-1 senior Kelly Nickele, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead a 36-22 advantage on the boards. Not helping the cause, Redwings junior point guard Christen Prasse was saddled with foul trouble throughout.
She scored 5 early points but picked up her second foul midway through the first quarter. Prasse eventually fouled out with 3:02 left in the game.
"That's critical for us. We had to go with a sophomore a little bit and we had to move Sid to the point," Paul said. "It's a game hopefully we'll grow from."