Beaumont dazzles in Benet's Hoopsfest victory
Benet junior point guard Lenee Beaumont casually scored basket early in the second quarter in Monday's game against Waukesha West.
Nothing fancy, just a typical Beaumont two-pointer which caught the eye of one of her teammates.
By that point, Beaumont, one of the elite players in the state, had impacted the game in so many ways, prompting one of her teammates on the bench to blurt out "that's all day" in reference to Beaumont's scoring prowess.
Waukesha West, a top-tier team in Wisconsin, discovered the Beaumont effect in a 56-30 loss at the 32nd Annual Coach Derril Kipp Hoopsfest in Lisle.
In limited playing time, Beaumont had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, with Maggie Sularski scoring 12 points.
Waukesha West coach Mark Busalacchi said watching Beaumont spin her magic on the court was a special treat, especially since he played with her father, Mike, at Carroll College.
Busalacchi joked that Lenee's father, Mike, was "not as good as her" on the basketball court.
"She's got it all, super smooth and big and has the full game and can score at all levels," he said. "She's as good as a player we've seen this year. I played college with her father, so I kind of knew who she was coming in. I've known her father for 30 years. It was cool. I didn't know. I just saw the name, and sure enough Mike lives here.
"I saw him at an alumni game probably seven or eight years ago, the last time we saw each other. She's a special player."
Beaumont said she was unaware of the connection between Waukesha West's coach and her father.
"I had no idea about (that), but my dad played with him in college," Beaumont said. "My dad was more of a post, got the rebounds and stuff."
The Redwings (17-2) extended their winning streak to four straight heading into Wednesday's pivotal East Suburban Catholic home game against Carmel.
In front of college coaches from DePaul, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Boston College, Purdue and Creighton, among others, Beaumont added more highlights to her rapidly growing career clip. With DePaul coach Doug Bruno watching the game from behind a basket in the first half, Beaumont shot 4-of-7 from the field to collect 8 points, 3 assists and 3 steals to stake the Redwings to a 25-14 lead.
"It's great to have this opportunity because I used to be the freshman coming to these games and seeing all the seniors have their coaches come," Beaumont said all the attention from college coaches. "Seeing that I'm slowly coming to that role, and having that opportunity as well is just awesome."
The 6-foot Beaumont, who has roughly 35 offers, said she's slowly starting to narrow down her schools.
"I have nothing set (commitment), but probably before like this summer's AAU season," she said. "I don't feel that much pressure. The schools I'm very serious about, I'm talking to and pretty confident where I am with them."
Beaumont closed out her inspiring game by drilling a 3-pointer from the wing to increase Benet's lead to 36-14 midway through the third quarter. Less than two minutes later, Beaumont buried another 3, off an underhand pass from a teammate, from the same spot.
One minute later, Beaumont scored on a two-handed lay-in to put her final exclamation point on a memorable game before sitting out the entire fourth quarter.