Benet star Lenee Beaumont has long had her eye on winning a state title. Her last shot comes in a 2nd OT.

NORMAL, Illinois — Benet senior guard Lenee Beaumont crouched down on the CEFCU Arena court on Saturday night, her head bowed and her hand pressed to her forehead in a futile effort to prevent the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

It was the portrait of a dream denied.

“Ever since I was a little girl, this has been a goal of mine — to win state,” Beaumont said. “So for that to just not turn out how you would like, it’s obviously very disappointing.

“As a team and individually, we put the work in. I give it my all every time, so to work that hard and not get the result is a little frustrating. But at the end of the day, sometimes that’s how it goes. You’ve just got to go back and get better.”

In her final high school game, Beaumont delivered yet another virtuoso performance, scoring a game-high 27 points and compiling eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in the Class 4A state championship game at Illinois State. But O’Fallon edged the Redwings 62-57 in double overtime.

After leading the Redwings to fourth place last year, the Indiana recruit got them back to Normal with a roster some people didn’t think was good enough. Benet lost seven games along the way, the most in coach Joe Kilbride’s nine-year tenure, but rode Beaumont’s superb talent to within a basket of its third state championship.

“Lenee willed us down here,” Kilbride said. “I told her before the game, ‘We got here because of you.’ She’s been carrying us, and she carried us through two overtimes today, and we almost got it done.”

Almost, but not quite. Beaumont and senior center Samantha Trimberger both missed contested potential game-winning shots in the lane at the end of regulation, and Beaumont’s tough turnaround jumper rimmed out at the end of the first OT.

“It felt like I got every unlucky bounce,” Beaumont said. “If one of those were to fall, that would have been great.

“We felt like they got every lucky bounce on the other end. It’s very unfortunate. I hate losing, especially in the state championship senior year. It’s tough, but it’s all good.”

There was plenty of good in the way the Redwings (25-8) battled back from an awful start. O’Fallon (34-4) scored the first 10 points and led 25-10 in the second quarter.

But Beaumont scored five consecutive points during a 10-2 run, which sophomore guard Lindsay Harzich capped with a 3-pointer to pull Benet within 27-20 at halftime.

Beaumont and Trimberger — who finished with 13 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and four steals — accounted for all 17 of Benet’s points in the third quarter, which ended with Beaumont converting a layup to give the Redwings a 37-34 lead.

That was Benet’s largest lead, matched later when junior guard Emilia Sularski made two free throws for a 54-51 edge in the first OT. The Redwings, though, did not make a basket after regulation, with Beaumont missing her last five attempts, including a deep 3-point try to tie in the final seconds of the second OT.

O’Fallon star Shannon Dowell, who scored 25 points, then iced it with two free throws with 3.2 seconds left.

“I’m incredibly proud of this group of kids,” Kilbride said. “For us to get here was an exceptional thing. For us to get down the way we did and battle our way back shows the guts these kids have, their toughness, their resilience.

“We had some really good chances, and that’s all you can ask for in a game like this.”

The game was an instant classic, if only for its length and how hard both teams played.

“I told the kids going into the overtime, this is an historic high school championship game,” Kilbride said. “It really was a great game. I’ll probably enjoy it more about 10 years from now.”

Chances are Trimberger, who had a red scratch on the back of her shoulder that attested to the game’s physical nature, will too. The scratch will heal in a few days. The pain of defeat might take longer, but Trimberger already appreciates her team’s accomplishment.

“It definitely hurts right now, but this was a great game,” she said. “Both teams played great. We definitely left everything we had out here on the court. I will definitely look back on this with fond memories.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.