Girls Basketball: Lenee Beaumont leads Benet’s gutsy comeback, but O’Fallon prevails in 2OT in IHSA Class 4A final

NORMAL – Lenee Beaumont slowly walked back down the court, a solitary figure alone in thought after her last shot.

Beaumont willed Benet to a gutsy comeback from what was a nightmare of a start to the Class 4A final for the Redwings. Just like she willed her team to state through an unusually challenging season by Benet standards.

The dream of a state championship was not to be – but what an effort to make it possible.

Beaumont, Benet’s senior guard and an Indiana recruit, capped her sensational career and playoff run with 27 points and eight rebounds, leading a comeback from 15 points down in the first half.

But she missed potential shots for the win in the final seconds of the fourth quarter and the first overtime and a 3-point shot for the tie in the final possession of double overtime.

O’Fallon, behind Illinois State recruit Shannon Dowell’s 25 points, emerged with a 62-57 win over Benet in an epic double overtime Class 4A final at CEFCU Arena to win its first state championship.

It was the first double-overtime title game in the 46 years of the IHSA state girls basketball series. Benet settled for runner-up and its fourth trophy since 2015, one they won’t soon forget after that comeback.

“I said on Friday that this team is resilient, and today was an example of how we just continue to battle. It doesn’t matter how many we were down, we just continued to battle until the final horn,” Beaumont said. “To be in this game was super crazy. Obviously, we’re disappointed. We worked all season to be here, but unfortunately some shots didn’t go our way.”

O’Fallon senior guard Jailah Pelly, who scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half and overtimes, gave her team the lead for good at 58-56 with a driving layup with 2:27 left in the second overtime.

Benet (25-8) had won fantastic finishes twice last week in the final seconds. Beaumont assisted Lindsay Harzich’s game-winning layup in the supersectional. Samantha Trimberger hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds left in the state semifinal to beat Geneva.

Unfortunately for Benet, the third time was not the charm.

“A couple bounces would have gone. We had a few missed layups. I felt like [O’Fallon] got every bounce on the other end. It’s unfortunate,” Beaumont said. “I hate losing, especially in the state championship game.”

O’Fallon (34-4) scored the first 10 points of the game, and it was 23-8 two minutes into the second quarter. O’Fallon made 83% of its field goals up to that point, while Benet committed five first-quarter turnovers and Beaumont picked up two quick fouls.

But Benet tweaked its zone a bit, chipped away and got it to 27-20 by halftime.

“It wasn’t a magical thing. We took it one possession at a time,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “We started changing things a little bit. We stuck with our plan and changed things up a bit.”

The momentum swing continued into the second half.

Down 31-24, Benet surged ahead with an 11-0 run. Beaumont’s three-point play started it, and she hit a spinning shot in the lane to tie it.

Trimberger, who scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, gave Benet its first lead at 33-31 with 1:36 left in the third quarter on a hook shot, and Beaumont followed with a score in transition.

“This team has a ton of heart,” Trimberger said. “We kind of came together at halftime and said we want this so badly, let’s leave it all on the floor.”

Beaumont, as she has all postseason, led the way with nine of her 27 points in the third quarter. Benet took a 37-34 lead to the fourth.

“She’s been carrying us. She carried us through two overtimes today and almost got it done,” Kilbride said.

A back-and-forth ensued with the two teams trading the lead six times over the final four minutes of regulation.

Emilia Sularski’s 3-pointer put Benet up 50-48 with 1:16 left in regulation, but after a Benet missed layup, Dowell hit two free throws with 17.3 seconds left to tie it. Beaumont missed a contested shot in the lane on the final possession.

Two free throws each by Beaumont and Sularski, who scored 11 points, gave Benet a 54-51 lead with 2:01 left in the first overtime. Dowell, again, answered with a tying 3-pointer with 2:01 left. Beaumont missed a spinning shot in the lane to force the second extra period.

The game had 11 lead changes and eight ties in the fourth quarter and overtimes.

“At the end of the day, it was a very competitive game. We put on a show,” Beaumont said. “I’m incredibly proud of this team.”

Beaumont, after leading Benet to fourth place in Class 4A as a junior, brought them back in a season of unusual adversity for the program.

The Redwings lost seven regular-season games, the most in Kilbride’s tenure, and Kilbride had his first three-game losing streak.

But Beaumont willed them to within a shot of winning the program’s first state title since going back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.

“It’s been going on all year. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” Beaumont said. “Some teams crumble, but I feel we’re the exact opposite. To come back from that deficit is incredible.”

So was the player that led Benet there.

Beaumont had 27 points and 10 rebounds in a regional final, 21 points and 14 rebounds in a sectional final masterpiece against Waubonsie Valley and 25 points with the game-winning assist in the supersectional.

“I told her before the game we got here because of you. That is absolutely the case,” Kilbride said. “She’s a phenomenal player and an even better person. I’m incredibly proud of her, and all these kids. For us to come battle back shows the guts of these kids, their toughness and resilience.”