(2023) - G Lenee Beaumont to INDIANA

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

In a Monday afternoon game, Benet was defeated 64-61 by defending Indiana Class 4A champion Noblesville.  Lenee 24p; 7r; 7a; 1b.

I can't get complete game stats for every game but here's what I do  have.

• 16 gm avg:  24p
• 13 gm avg:  7r
• 12 gm avg:  4a
• 10 gm avg:  2s

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

https://basketball.dailyherald.com/sports/20230118/not-easy-but-benet-knocks-off-carmel-again?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Benet with a 68-42 win over Geneseo.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Opening round game in the East Suburban Catholic Conference (ESCC) tournament and Benet Academy (17-6) cruised to a 70-34 win over Joliet Catholic (12-15).  Lenee didn't have to dominate as her teammates rained 3s in the first half and Benet led 44-19 at the break.  Running clock started with 3 min. left in the 3rd.  Lenee played 19 min. and had 8p; 4r; 1s.  

The teams met 3 weeks ago in regular conference play and Benet won that one 61-18.

Semifinal game Feb 1. vs. Carmel (20-5).  Teams have already met twice this season with Benet winning both times.   Lenee had 26p in their first meeting and 17p in their re-match.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Strange game.  In a semifinal game of the ESCC tournament, Benet was beaten 35-34 by Carmel Catholic.  They play in the consolation game on Saturday and their regular season wraps up on the 8th.  Although it was low scoring, neither team deliberately stalled.  Both just very patient on offense and neither team shot particularly well.  Carmel led throughout most of the first 3 quarters with Benet knotting it at 26-26 at the end of the 3rd.  With 5 min. left, Benet had a 5 point lead but couldn't score again until 8 sec. remained and Beaumont hit a well-guarded 3 to make it 34-33 Benet.  Benet had multiple fouls to give.  They used one shortly after Carmel inbounded.  On the next inbound, Beaumont fouled a Carmel player who clearly threw the ball at the basket after she was fouled but they called it an act of shooting foul on Leann.  The girl hit both FTs and the game was over with Carmel winning 35-34.  It was blatantly bad because the contact occurred beyond the arc yet they only gave the Carmel girl 2 FTs.

Leann finished with 18 of Benet's 34 points plus she had assists that accounted for 7 additional points.  She did miss the front ends of 2  one and ones in the 4th Q.  Those misses and the bad foul call will be tough for her to swallow but had she had a little bit of scoring help, the game wouldn't have been that close.  This was at least the 4th Benet game I watched and Leann has not been the only scorer on the team.  For whatever reason, I thought teammates passed up shots they should have taken and shots I saw them take in earlier games.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Benet Academy (18-7) defeated Marian Catholic (23-7) 50-40 in the consolation game of the ESCC tournament.  Benet trailed 26-22 at the half but the second half was all Benet holding Marian to just 14 points.  Lenee finished with 10p; 7r; 8a; 3s; 1b; 4t.  Not her best shooting night 4-14 FG; 1-5 on 3s; 1-5 FT.  But her 8 assists (6 in the second half) resulted in 19 Benet points.   She had back-to-back possessions in the 3rd Q that were impressive.  The first was grabbing a rebound and going coast-to-coast through all 5 Marian defenders.  On the next Marian possession, she grabbed a rebound and fired a nearly court length pass right on the money to a streaking teammate for an easy layup.  She sees the court very well as she really threaded the needle on a couple of her assists.  

Next Wednesday will be her final regular season game vs. Montini Catholic (22-6).

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Disregard the stats I posted above.  I guess I'm a hard grader.   Recorded her first triple double.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Season ending win 44-42 over Montini Catholic and Benet Academy finishes with a record of 18-7.  Lenee 18p; 5r; 5a; 2s; 1b; 4t.   She was 6-11 on 2s but 0- 5 on 3s and a couple were ill-advised.  Also just 6-10 FT.  State tournament play starts on Saturday.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Tournament opening round game against an incredibly inept Plainfield South team resulting in a lopsided 68-23 win for Benet.  How inept were they you ask.  In one of the first couple of possessions, a Plainfield girl had an open layup and shot the ball over the backboard!

It was 48-12 at halftime.  Lenee 9p; 4r; 3a; 3s; 0b; 1t in no more than 16 minutes of action.  She played the last 3 minutes of the 2nd Q as the only starter; played the first 2 min. of the 3rd Q and was done for the  night.  Not sure why, but they didn't start using a running clock until  the 4th Q.  Next game for Lenee is Thursday night vs. Yorkville (19-12)

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Lenee big night in tournament win over Yorkville.  27p.  10r.  3a.   4s

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Benet advances with a 60-43 win over Neuqua Valley.  Lenee 17p,  8r,  4A.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

21p, 14r, 4a in a 58-47 win over Waubonsie in tournament play.  Up next Supersectional game vs. Kenwood on the 27 th.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

https://basketball.dailyherald.com/sports/20230223/beaumonts-dazzling-performance-sends-benet-past-waubonsie-valley-to-sectional-title?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Survive and advance.  In a barnburner, Benet Academy ( 24-7) defeated Kenwood (30-6) 47-46 to advance to Friday's 4A state semifinal game.  The winning bucket for Benet came with 4 seconds left off an assist from who else, Lenee Beaumont.  For the game, I scored her with 25p; 9r; 3a; 1s; 0b; 3t.  She was 12-14 FT hitting 7-8 in the crucial 4th Q.  Kenwood applied a full court press almost the entire game.  Lenee was the inbounder who would immediately receive the ball back and be doubleteamed.  She did not commit a single turnover as a result of the press but always found an open teammate and Kenwood was never able to force a 10 second call.   Should Benet win on Friday, the championship game will be played on Saturday.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

The Daily Herald -

Lenee Beaumont, her career hanging in the balance as she dribbled 10 feet from the rim in the closing seconds Monday, made a decision not every star player would.

She trusted a teammate to make the shot.

Beaumont, Benet's senior guard and Indiana recruit, had the option of taking the game-winning shot down one point. Or trusting sophomore Lindsay Harzich to make her only basket of the game.

"Either I'm getting a shot and it's going to be contested, or I'm going to make sure somebody has a wide-open layup," Beaumont said. "At the end of the day, I want to go out my senior year making the right play. No regrets."

The right play turned out to be the game-winning play.

Beaumont got the ball at the top of the key in a fullcourt scramble, dribbled past a defender and made a perfect drop-off to Harzich as another Kenwood defender came up to contest Beaumont. Harzich's wide-open layup with five seconds left was the difference in Benet's dramatic 47-46 win over Kenwood at the Class 4A Hinsdale Central supersectional.

"It was absolutely amazing, the crowd went crazy," Harzich said. "I was just thinking we better get a shot, and we better make it."                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Beaumont scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and Samantha Trimberger added eight points and seven rebounds for Benet (24-7), headed back to state after taking fourth place in Class 4A last season. The Redwings will face Geneva, a Monday winner over Barrington, in a 4:15 p.m. Friday semifinal at Redbird Arena.

That was looking in doubt after Benet, which led 45-37 with 3:41 left after Beaumont hit two free throws, watched as Kenwood freshman Danielle Brooks hit three consecutive 3-pointers. The third, with 25 seconds left, gave Kenwood a 46-45 lead.

Benet coach Joe Kilbride, though, had his ace in the hole, one he called for in a timeout.

"I got that kid No. 5 [Beaumont], she's pretty good," Kilbride said. "At the end I said we're going to get the ball to Beau, and she is going to make something happen. And that's exactly what she did."

Harzich had taken just one shot up to the final seconds in 14 minutes. But the sophomore lefty kept her cool, dropping in the layup from the right side just as Beaumont knew she would.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   "Lindsay was open, the Kenwood girl stepped up, and I trust any one of my teammates to make that shot," Beaumont said. "Lindsay works her butt off, she's in the gym every day before and after practice. As soon as school ended today, we were getting up shots. I knew she'd make it."

So did Kilbride, who said his youngster is poised beyond her years.

"Lindsay is very calm, a flat demeanor, you'd never know she was rattled," Kilbride said.

Kilbride's Redwings had ample opportunity to get rattled in a game chock full of big swings. Beaumont scored 14 of her 25 in the first half. Maggie Sularski's driving layup three minutes into the second quarter capped off a 15-0 run for a 17-5 Benet lead.

Benet's zone defense kept Kenwood (30-6) scoreless for over seven minutes in a stretch bridging the second and third quarters. But the Broncos, who shot 9 for 24 on a streaky night, got it going out of the break.

A Brooks' 3-pointer, one of her five, tied it 28-28, and Kenwood eventually went ahead 32-28. Natasha Barnes had a team-high 17 points for Kenwood, which was seeking its first state appearance.

"There were several times where they gave us a really good run, we did some silly stuff, lost track of shooters," Kilbride said. "But I thought our resilience and emotional toughness was good today."

Indeed, another momentum swing went Benet's way to end the third quarter. Sadie Sternbenz hit a 3, and after a Kenwood technical fouled out Jazlynn Givens, Beaumont hit two go-ahead free throws. Emilia Sularski followed with a 3-pointer, sending Benet into the fourth quarter ahead 36-32.

Beaumont, doubled throughout the second half, only took three shots and went without a field goal after halftime. But she made 11 consecutive free throws and was 12 for 14 for the game.

"For sure there have been a lot of situations, couple seconds on the clock, where I wasn't able to get our team the win because I missed free throws," Beaumont said. "I knew going into the playoffs that's a big thing. Kenwood likes to put people on the line. I knew I had to knock them down."

Benet is back at state for the fifth time since 2015. Beaumont said it's gratifying in a season in which it was questioned if the Redwings had the depth to make it this far.

"We have had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of people didn't think we'd go to state, but we didn't listen to the outside noise," Beaumont said. "We had a trust and a bond throughout the year. You have to trust other girls to make plays like we did tonight."

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

The Naperville Sun -

Benet’s Lindsay Harzich wasn’t flustered, even with a trip to the state finals on the line.

The sophomore guard was ready when she saw teammate Lenee Beaumont start to drive toward her as time wound down in the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Supersectional on Monday.

“I was just thinking we better get a shot, and we better make it,” Harzich said.

They did — because she did.

Beaumont passed up a potential game-winning shot and got the ball underneath to Harzich, who sank an open layup with five seconds remaining, and the Redwings defeated Kenwood 47-46.

Benet’s Lindsay Harzich (12) lays the ball up for the winning basket in the closing seconds of the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Supersectional against Kenwood on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (Jon Cunningham / Naperville Sun)

Benet (24-7) will be making their fifth appearance at the state finals in nine seasons and will play Geneva (29-3) in the semifinals at CEFCU Arena in Normal at 4:15 p.m. Friday.

“It’s a dream come true,” Beaumont said. “Since day one we’ve been working our butts off to get here. We didn’t win conference, we lost more games than in a typical Benet year, but the goal never changes.”

The script never seems to change for Beaumont, an Indiana recruit who was terrific again in leading all players with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists, or for Harzich, the first-year starter who continues to show a knack for making big plays.

This one was the biggest yet. Harzich, who hadn’t scored and had missed her only two previous shots, sent Benet’s fans into a frenzy with her basket.

“I was just calm,” Harzich said. “When I saw the crowd jump up in the air, it was just amazing. It was crazy.”

Kenwood (30-6) called timeout with 1.6 seconds left, but Natasha Barnes’ contested 3-pointer from half-court missed at the buzzer. It was a wild ending to a seesaw thriller in which both teams rallied from double-digit deficits.

The Redwings used a 14-0 run to take a 42-32 lead, but Barnes and Danielle Brooks combined to score the next 14 points for Kenwood. Brooks’ 3-pointer from the left corner gave the Broncos a 46-45 lead with 17.3 seconds left.

Benet coach Joe Kilbride called timeout to set up a play against Kenwood’s full-court press.

“They’re like, ‘What are we running?’” Kilbride said. “We’re getting the ball to ‘Beau,’ and then she’s going to make something happen, which is exactly what did happen. It was great.”

Everyone assumed Beaumont would take the final shot, but the Redwings were prepared for anything.

“Kilbride was saying in the huddle that Lenee could get double-teamed, so any of us could be taking that end-game shot,” Harzich said. “So I knew we all had to be ready for it.”

Harzich hadn’t played much in the second half, but Kilbride had confidence in her.

“Lindsay is very calm,” Kilbride said. “She’s just sort of got a flat demeanor. You never know if she’s upset or rattled. She was great.”

How does Harzich stay cool in the heat of such a big moment?

“I always try to stay focused on what’s going on in the moment, and I never want to get nervous because that could result in bad things,” she said. “I feeling being calm, you’re going to play to your best potential that way.”

Beaumont didn’t make a basket in the second half, although she went 10 for 11 from the line. But Samantha Trimberger, Maggie Sularski, Emilia Sularski, Sadie Sterbenz, Bridget Rifenburg and finally Harzich all made one basket.

“There’s been plenty of times this year where I’ve been denied, double-teamed, even triple-teamed, but players got to step up,” Beaumont said. “So I just know they’re going to make those plays.”

So it was on the decisive play.

“Initially, I was just going to float up a shot, whatever it was,” Beaumont said. “But realistically, Lindsay’s going to make that layup 10 out of 10 times.

“I know she was struggling early on, but you can ask anyone on this team, I trust anyone to make that shot. I had a pretty good feeling that she was going to make it.”

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

The game winning assist from Lenee.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,958]

Voted to first team Class 4A all-state team by the Illinois Associated Press.