Two weeks ago, the Lady Redwings took an unprecedented loss against Edwardsville in the Class 4A super-sectional. This marked the end of the victorious postseason streak of 18 games but more devastatingly ended the opportunity of being “three-peat” champions.

​The Lady Redwings, who had a number of starters dealing with the flu, seemed to be out of their offensive groove, with the only consistent scorers being Senior Kendal Schramek and Junior Tsimba Malonga. As a team, the Lady Redwings only shot 35% from the field. This was not enough to compete with Edwardsville’s Makenzie Silvey, who accrued her game high of 18 points in the match up, and her team’s 59% success rate in shots.

The Lady Redwings started the 2016-2017 season with seven consecutive wins against teams like Naperville Central (73-54) and Oswego East (47-45) before ending the streak with a close loss against Rock Island by only six points. This loss seemed like an outlier and was followed up with nine consecutive wins. This second streak ended with a 59-43 difficult loss to Montini. The winning streaks that followed were not as vast as the previous ones, but the Lady Redwings still had some impressive victories, such as their 72-34 win against Nazareth Academy and their 72-17 demolishment of Neuqua Valley. The girls started the playoffs with a fantastic win against Lemont in the Regional Championship and later with a win against Plainfield East in the Sectional Championship before their loss to Edwardsville. It also should be mentioned that the Lady Redwings never had two back to back losses all season.

Included in this season’s accomplishments are Katie Jaseckas becoming the all-time leading rebounder in Benet girls’ basketball history, surpassing Jenny Callan, class of 2002. And fellow senior captain Kendal Schramek becoming the all-time winningest player in Benet basketball history, contributing to 115 wins in her four-year varsity career.

Though the season did not end with another state championship, the team still put together a fantastic season.

“Perhaps most important among their accomplishments will be the lessons learned and memories made by the six seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen who made up the varsity roster. This group has shown that hard work, dedication, teamwork and a healthy dose of fun can result in so much growth and success. Their efforts and accomplishments have set a very high standard for the girls’ basketball program,” Assistant Coach John Corrigan stated.