Girls Basketball: Benet holds off St Joseph

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St. Joseph's Kaci Beemon puts up a shot, during the Chargers' game against Lyons Township. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 3, 2012 8:15AM

The uniforms said Benet and St. Joseph, but they hardly looked like the teams they were just a few short days ago.

The No. 7 Redwings are still adjusting to the recent loss of 5-foot-10 senior guard Madeline Eilers, one of the top three-point shooters in the area, who injured a knee in a recent game against Waubonsie Valley and whose status going forward is uncertain.

No. 23 St. Joseph, on the other hand, got only 12 minutes from senior guard Briya Wilborn, who sat out most of the first half with fouls before exiting with a head injury late in the third quarter. She was welcomed to the bench by Donna Koerber, who turned an ankle late in the second quarter.

Perhaps then it was no surprise that the game came down to a pair of free throws by Benet senior Sidney Prasse, who was fouled after picking off a St. Joseph pass at midcourt with 2.3 seconds left. Her two made free throws allowed Benet (19-4) to escape with a 52-48 win Thursday in Lisle.

“That was all my teammates,” Prasse said of her steal. “If they weren’t pressuring that girl up top, she wouldn’t have lobbed the ball. I just stepped in the passing lane. We work well together. We knew we could do it if we just stayed calm and worked together.

“We had an off day offensively,” she added. “But we made up for it.”

Benet, which is often undersized against opponents and has relied on its three-point shooting to win 14 games in a row coming into Thursday’s non-conference contest, will have to learn to adjust without one of its biggest weapons, said coach Peter Paul.

“This was not one of the prettiest games,” he said. “We’re learning to adjust, how to play without Eilers. It’s a different ballgame for us. It was harder to guard us when we had three people from the arc. We very rarely didn’t have all three of them on.

“Now tonight, two of our three shooters were not on,” Paul added. “We struggled offensively. We’re a different team. We have to pick it up on the defensive end rather than looking to outscore people. We got a couple of weeks to figure it out.”

St. Joseph (17-7) fell behind 45-35 at the 5:55 mark of the fourth quarter with both Wilborn and Koerber on the bench, but closed to within 49-48 on a three-pointer by Leah Banda with 12.3 seconds remaining. Benet’s 4 of 9 shooting from the free-throw line opened the door for the Chargers.

But Sidney Prasse slammed it shut, picking off a pass that led to a free throw by sister Christen Prasse with 11 ticks remaining and then intercepting a second pass that led to her own two made free throws nine seconds later.

Sidney Prasse led Benet with 22 points, Nicole Valentine added 11 points and seven rebounds and Taylor Valentine had eight points and seven rebounds.

Koerber led St. Joseph with 10 points despite playing only 14 minutes. Deja Horn and Chanel Brown (seven rebounds) each had nine points and Shakeera Jones had five points and 11 rebounds.

“You’re never happy with a loss,” St. Joseph coach Jim Maley said. “But I told them this was a very good game for us because if we’re going to do what we want to do going forward, we’re going to need more than five players.

“I said it’s one thing to hold the lead or not give up too many points when the second group comes in, but to be down 10 to a team this good and to come back tells me a lot for the future,” he added. “So we’re not happy with the loss, but I take heart with the way my second group played.”