Chandra Smith had a miserable first half in the championship game of the Downers Grove North sectional Thursday night, but she came alive at the right time.
Smith missed all seven of her field-goal attempts and scored only two points in the opening quarter, and in the fourth quarter Smith still was stuck on two points.
Smith then scored 11 of her 13 points to lead Benet (27-5) to a come-from-behind 48-42 victory over Bolingbrook as the Redwings captured their third straight sectional title.
After Benet rallied from a nine-point second-quarter deficit to pull within one early in the fourth, Smith decided to forget that outside-shooting stuff and simply go hard at the basket.
With 5 minutes, 36 seconds remaining, the 5-foot-9-inch senior used a hesitation move and went to the basket for a layup that gave top-seeded Benet its first lead since the first quarter.
“I definitely noticed my shot wasn’t going in and I had to do something different,” Smith said. “In the fourth quarter they let me drive a little more and I had to take the opportunity.”
Smith scored seven points in a row for Benet on three straight layups and a free throw, and the Redwings scored the last nine points of the game holding Bolingbrook (28-2) scoreless over the final 3:23.
Smith converted a three-point play to tie the game 42-42 with 2:04 left. Molly McGue, a 6-foot sophomore who came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points for Benet, hit a free throw to make it 43-42 with 1:37 left.
Then 6-2 sophomore Kaitlin McInerney blocked two consecutive shots and Smith hit four straight free throws in the final 34 seconds.
