Benet’s Maggie Sularski shuts down a Montini star right to the end. That’s typical. Less so? That game-winner.

Benet’s Maggie Sularski hasn’t had many opportunities to shine on offense this season.

That’s by design.

Benet coach Joe Kilbride tabbed the junior guard as his defensive stopper.

“Everyone has a role on the team, and obviously mine is playing defense on the best defender,” Sularski said. “I feel like I’ve perfected that, and I trust my players that if I get beat, they’re there.”

Sularski rarely gets beat on defense, but it takes a lot of energy to guard everyone’s star player.

“I can’t be lazy on defense,” she said. “I have to keep going. I can’t give up.”

That effort extends to the offensive end. While Sularski’s production is down from last season, she’s still a threat.

“My role is defense right now, trying to help the team out,” she said. “If I get a shot, I’ll shoot it.”

Sularski got a chance to do that Wednesday night and made the most of it. She received a pass from senior center Samantha Trimberger at the top of the key, drove the lane and sank a short floater with 11 seconds remaining against Montini.

That turned out to be the first game-winning shot of Sularski’s career. The host Broncos were unable to get a shot off after that, and Benet closed the regular season with a thrilling 44-42 victory in Lombard.

“I just don’t really think about the points,” Sularski said. “They just come to me, like today as you saw.”

The decisive play came after Trimberger missed a layup. Indiana-bound star guard Lenee Beaumont was knocked down while missing the putback, but Trimberger snagged the rebound and found Sularski.

“I was confident going into that floater,” Sularski said. “It felt amazing.”

Kilbride was confident that Sularski, who finished with nine points and two assists for the Redwings (19-7), would deliver in the clutch against Montini (22-7).

“She’s very capable, so it didn’t surprise me at all,” Kilbride said. “She’s a great handler and good shooter. She’s got a nice float game, and that’s what she ended up shooting there was a floater in traffic.”

Beaumont, who had another great all-around game with 16 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists, was part of that traffic, lying prone on the floor.

“Obviously, Sam’s offensive rebound was clutch,” Beaumont said. “I don’t really know what happened because I was on the ground. I just saw the ball go through the net, and I looked for who shot it. It was Maggie, so that’s awesome.

“For her to hit that shot was no surprise, honestly. Her being in the action, running to get the ball, wanting to make the play, that’s something Maggie does.”

But Sularski did so much more against the Broncos, who were on a 10-2 run until Beaumont tied the game with a free throw with 51.9 seconds left. She held Shannon Blacher, a Northern Illinois recruit, to six points on 1-for-13 shooting.

“Shannon is a great player, and Maggie did a tremendous job on her,” Kilbride said. “She’s been guarding the other team’s best perimeter player every game.

“And on offense, she is capable of much more. She just is spending so much of her energy for us on the other end.”

So it was on Montini’s final possession, when Sularski prevented Blacher from getting the ball, and the Broncos failed to take a shot.

“I knew there was some time left,” Sularski said. “We had to play defense and not foul and finish the game off strong.”

The Redwings did that and enter the Class 4A playoffs with some momentum.

“It was our last regular-season game,” Sularski said. “So we just wanted to win today going in confident for the playoffs.”

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