With an Indiana coach watching, Lenee Beaumont returns to Benet’s court after a hard fall and decides to ‘take over’

Benet star Lenee Beaumont was tripped and hit her head on the floor midway through the second quarter of a home game against York on Tuesday.

Everyone held their breath.

“I got a little nervous because I didn’t know how bad it was going to be, if she was going to have to sit out the whole game,” junior guard Emilia Sularski said. “We really needed her for this game.

“Thankfully, she got up and was fine.”

Indeed, Beaumont returned to the game less than two minutes later. She was actually standing in front of the bench before that, itching to get back into the action.

“I just know I banged my head pretty hard,” she said. “I was going to play, but the trainer had to clear me before I could get back in.”

Once she did, Beaumont gradually took over the game. She scored 11 of her game-high 21 points in the third quarter to give the Redwings the lead for good in a 47-37 victory.

The Indiana-bound Beaumont also added a career-high 14 rebounds to go with four assists and a blocked shot, impressing a crowd that included Indiana associate coach Rhet Wierzba, who recruited her.

“She took a pretty good shot, but she got back up,” Wierzba said. “She’s tough, so I knew if they let her play, she would play.”

Beaumont and the Redwings (9-2) played well early, taking a 10-1 lead before York (9-3) rallied for a 22-22 halftime tie.

The Dukes led 34-33 when Beaumont scored on a drive to ignite a personal 7-0 run, including a drive and a deep 3-pointer. She either scored or assisted on Benet’s final 16 points.

The prettiest play came with 4:40 to go in the fourth quarter, when Beaumont got a defensive rebound and fired a strike to Sularski for a layup that extended Benet’s lead to 44-34.

“It was perfect,” Sularski said. “They were still at half-court, so I just wanted to run up as fast as I can to get that easy layup and get up a lead.”

Beaumont is always up for a battle and said she didn’t feel any extra motivation to play well in front of Wierzba.

“It was definitely great to have him here, but I’m already committed, so it’s not like I had to prove anything,” Beaumont said. “Just kind of play my game, and every team that we’re going to be playing against I know loads up against me.

“They don’t want me to score, so it opens up plenty of opportunities for my teammates. I’ve just got to find them in the right area.”

Beaumont did. Sularski scored 14 points, and center Samantha Trimberger had seven points and nine rebounds. Sularski’s twin sister, Maggie, added five points and four rebounds while holding York leading scorer, Mariann Blass, to five points on 1-for-9 shooting.

The Dukes scored just three points in the final nine minutes.

The Redwings went four minutes without scoring in the second quarter, and Beaumont wasn’t happy.

“That should not have happened,” Beaumont said. “We were tied at half. I was pretty upset about that. I knew I just had to kind of take over, try to figure things out before it got too late.”

Beaumont, who took another hard foul in the second half, did. Benet coach Joe Kilbride said he let out a sigh of relief.

“She went down hard a couple times,” he said. “We finally got her the ball going downhill a little bit, and she was able to make some plays for us.”

Beaumont was asked afterward how her head was feeling.

“Oh, fantastic,” she said. “I’m good.”

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