Benet's fast pace too much

If you're going to play the Benet Academy girls' basketball team's quick, shooter-happy style of play, you'd better make sure you rebound and don't turn the ball over to limit Redwings' possessions.

Glenbard West failed to do both and Benet made them pay, knocking down seven threes, forcing 22 turnovers and outrebounding the Hilltoppers 22 to 16 in a 67-40 romp Wednesday night at the Benet-Naperville North Holiday Tournament.

"They do a nice job of cutting and moving and being very active attacking the basket," Hilltoppers' coach Mike Hofland said. "We looked like we were stuck in quicksand at times when they were cutting through. And then running up on the press, we uncharacteristically dribbled with our head down. It's disappointing because after the last couple games, we really handled presses well."

The Redwings were down 6-2 to start the game before they put a 13-0 run up on the board, including a Danielle Canulli three-pointer that preceded two more threes by the senior guard to end the first quarter with Benet up 21-10.

"In practice, we do drills all the time for three-pointers," said Canulli, who finished with 11 points. "We spend a lot of time on that in practice, which is something we have to do because we're such a small team and we run a lot. We all have the green light to shoot because we have such excellent shooters on the team."

Case in point would be junior Madeline Eilers, who on this night was the 11th person off the bench for Benet (10-5), but, as she's done all season, promptly hit three threes in a row to get her nine points.

"We shot the ball very well and took them out of their comfort zone," Benet coach Peter Paul said. "Once the shots started to fall, it was a good for us."

Bridget Flanagan had seven points for Glenbard West, while Cayla Herbst had six.

Sidney Prasse led the Redwings with 12 points and didn't even need to hit a typical shot from distance, going 6 of 6 from the free throw line, part of Benet's perfect 12 of 12 night. Christen Prasse scored nine and had three assists off the bench.

Aside from the offense, the full court press laid on the Hilltoppers (6-7) dictated play, as the Redwings forced two 10-second calls as part of their debilitating defensive effort.

"Our plan right from the start was to get into a half court trap," Canulli said. "I think we came out with a great intensity and kept it the entire game and that was very important. It stalled their offense a lot and that was big."

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