Benet hangs with nationally ranked team from Detroit

What's important isn't that Benet lost a girls basketball game Saturday at the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase.

What really matters is the experience the Redwings gained in playing a two-time defending Michigan state champion that is ranked sixth nationally by MaxPreps. That experience will come in handy for Benet come playoff time when the Redwings try to make their way through a loaded Class 4A sectional.

Detroit Edison defeated Benet 52-43 in Lisle.

"We are a really good team, so I think the challenge is helping us," Redwings junior Brooke Schramek said, "and it's helping us improve for games in the future."

"And it also shows us what we need to work on," added Benet junior Kendall Holmes. "There's a lot of things to take out of a game like today. That team is really athletic, really strong, they're really good, and we tried our best but they were able to get the win today."

Edison took the lead for good in the second quarter, outscoring the Redwings 11-4. A Shaulana Wagner 15-foot basket with six minutes to play in the game gave the Pioneers (8-1) their first double-digit lead, 39-28.

But Benet (18-4) didn't fold. Holmes and Clara Prasse each hit a 3-pointer, and with 2:55 to play Holmes three-point play cut the Edison lead to 43-39.

"That was big for them," Edison coach Monique Brown said. "We've been in some very tough situations with this group of girls. ... So that period of time, I knew they wouldn't get rattled with that."

Rickea Jackson, a 6-foot-3 senior and Mississippi State recruit, answered with a shot from the baseline, and junior Gabrielle Elliott nailed a corner 3 with 1:47 to go for a 48-39 lead.

Elliott led all scorers with 20 points, and Jackson scored 13 with 5 rebounds.

Holmes' 15 points led Benet, and Schramek scored 13 with 7 rebounds. Prasse added 9 points.

The Redwings made only 3 of 17 shots from the 3-point arc, but they impressed the Edison coach.

"Absolutely outstanding poise, defense, boxouts, so a really good team," Brown said.

"We told the girls you've got to take care of the ball, you've got to rebound. I know we rebounded really well," Benet coach Joe Kilbride added. "For the most part we took care of the ball. We had a couple of little runs.

"You give them two or three live-ball turnovers and all of a sudden a 1-point game becomes a 9-point game. That's kind of what happened to us there. But I thought we did a nice job, by and large."