Bench earns Richards win

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:54PM

To call Richards' 46-39 South Suburban crossover win Thursday over T.F. South a total team effort would not be an exaggeration.

All 13 Bulldogs saw quality time in a four-quarter struggle during which they overcame foul trouble, shooting trouble, ballhandling trouble ... basically, every kind of trouble a team can have.

And still Richards won.

"We practice hard and we try to give (everybody) a little bit of time to get out there and be a part of things and get after it," coach Jeff Kortz said. "You've just got to go out and you've got to perform."

There was, however, one dominator - at least when she was on the floor. Brianna LeBeau led the way for Richards (3-1, 1-0) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Sam Kusta added eight points and five rebounds, Hannah Jenkins seven points and 11 rebounds, and Raneisha Hill six points.

South (1-4, 0-1) received eight points and five rebounds from Kaila Doby and eight points from Reggi Jones.

LeBeau put up her big numbers despite sitting for nearly 14 of the 32 minutes. Most of the down time was because of foul trouble. She got her third with two minutes left in the second quarter and her fourth with 3:54 remaining in the third.

"Yeah, you know, I go out there sometimes and I'm a little aggressive and sometimes I get dumb fouls," LeBeau said. "After getting all those fouls I wanted to get in there, but it was a good strategy to keep me away until the end so we could give our starting five six good minutes."

In the interim, the Bulldogs scuffled. During a stretch that lasted from late in the second period until 6:30 remained in the fourth, the Bulldogs went 0-of-14 from the field and 8-of-18 from the free-throw line.

A 20-16 lead, meanwhile, had become a 33-28 deficit when LeBeau went back on the floor. Within 10 seconds she made a huge impact.

LeBeau started the comeback with a layup while being fouled, and completed the three-point play. She added a free throw with 5:24 remaining, then grabbed the rebound of her own missed second shot. Kusta's subsequent bank-in made it 34-33 Richards.

South briefly went back in front on a putback by Doby, but Kusta triggered an 8-0 Bulldogs run with a layup. Hill, LeBeau and Jenkins added two points each as Richards suddenly led 42-23 with 2:38 showing.

It was quite a whirlwind four minutes for a team that couldn't buy a basket for nearly 12.

"We struggled, but we always come out on top when we need to," Jenkins said. "It's always important for us to realize that we don't need to rush down the court and turn the ball over.

"We needed to take a breather and calm down, and get a play set up and hopefully get it in to our posts."

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