Girls Basketball: Benet stuns Fenwick at buzzer

Updated: December 11, 2011 12:26AM

Benet senior Madeline Eilers is no stranger to the three-point shot, hitting 42 previously this season, but she had missed her first six attempts on her home floor in Saturday’s game with Fenwick.

The Redwings trailed the Friars 66-64 and had the ball underneath the Fenwick basket with only 3.6 seconds to play. Two passes upcourt put the ball in an open Eilers’ hands with time ticking away, and she let a shot fly from beyond the arc an instant before the final buzzer sounded.

The ball swished through the net and Benet players, coaches and fans alike celebrated as the Redwings escaped with a 67-66 victory over No. 12 Fenwick – their first win against their conference rivals since 1999.

Eilers was as surprised as everyone else who witnessed the improbable ending to the hard-fought East Suburban Catholic Conference contest.

“I thought we were out of time when Christen (Prasse) passed me the ball, but we weren’t so I shot it and I was in shock when it went in,” Eilers said. “I missed all my shots before that, so I had to make one tonight. Fortunately, I saved it until the end when we needed it.”

Fenwick (6-2, 0-2 ESCC) led most of the game, twice by 10 points, but Benet (7-4, 2-1) chipped away and cut a 33-24 halftime deficit down to 35-33 with a 9-2 run to start the second half. But the Friars came right back with a 13-7 run of its own to go on top 48-40 after three quarters.

A 10-0 streak by the Redwings early in the fourth tied the game at 50-50 with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left the play and the lead continued to change hands until a layup by Marek Burchett (11 points, eight rebounds) gave the Friars a 66-64 advantage with 28 seconds to go.

Benet missed a couple of opportunities to take the lead, and kept getting the ball back after misses were tipped out of bounds by Fenwick. Then after a miscue on an inbounds play by the Redwings gave the ball back to the Friars, a Fenwick turnover with 3.6 seconds on the the clock gave Benet one last chance for a victory.

“We knew we had to go all out when we got the ball back,” Eilers said. “It was our last chance and we wanted it so bad. We hadn’t beaten Fenwick in so long and we really wanted to win. Early in the game when I wasn’t making any shots I was a little discouraged. I felt like I forgot how to shoot, so to come in and hit that shot in the fourth quarter felt great – I was so happy.”

Benet’s comeback was aided by the play of the Prasse sisters, senior Sidney, who had a game-high 28 points – 18 in the third and fourth quarters, along with five three-pointers – and junior Christen, who scored 15 of her 17 points after halftime. The duo combined for 33 of yje team’s 43 second-half points.

Benet also canned 16-of-18 free throws in the second half after going 2-for-2 in the first two quarters. Fenwick was 15-of-24 from the line.

The Friars received 21 points from Meredith Boardman, including 10 in the fourth quarter, Jade Owens chipped in 13, and Eva Brundage and Margaret Reilly contributed six points each.

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