Seven straight for No. 2 Bartlett
There was no need for a second-half rally.
There was no letdown.
The Bartlett girls basketball team dominated early Thursday night and cruised to a 58-44 victory over Benet in nonconference action in Bartlett, the second time in less than a week the Hawks have defeated the Redwings.
“Mentally preparing for every game and every team is going to be something important for us because we're not sneaking around anymore,” Hawks coach Denise Sarna said. “I know that we're going to get everybody's best game. And we've got to be prepared with our best game.”
The Hawks (7-0), No. 2 in the Daily Herald Top 20, needed a second-half rally last Saturday to beat Benet to capture the Naperville Central/Benet Tip-Off Tournament title. On Tuesday, Bartlett started its Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division schedule with an important 4-point victory over No. 9 Waubonsie Valley.
A down game from Bartlett wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility given the circumstances, but the Hawks came out Thursday as fast as they have all season. Bartlett, which never trailed, ended the first quarter on an 11-0 run to take a 21-6 lead. A Kristin Conniff layup with 3:50 left in the second quarter gave the Hawks a 21-point lead, 31-10.
“We came out with an early lead, then we kind of backed off a little bit,” said Bartlett senior Jacki Gulczynski, who finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds. “We needed to keep our pressure on better.”
No. 17 Benet (4-3), which has lost three straight, went on a 15-2 late in the second quarter and into the third to get within 7, 35-28. Christen Prasse hit a pair of 3-pointers during the run for 6 of her team-high 11 points. But the Hawks answered with a 9-0 run of their own to increase the lead back to 16, 44-28.
“We battled hard,” Benet coach Peter Paul said. “They came out with a head of steam. We fought our way back, but you can't get down that far against that type of team.”
Ashley Veselik added 10 points and 6 rebounds for Benet.
Lisa Palmer had 12 points and Nicole Beck added 10 off the bench for the Hawks. Haley Videckis had 11 points and 4 steals.