Benet junior Lenee Beaumont does so many things well that it’s hard to find two people who agree on which skill makes her special.
Ask around and you’ll get a variety of opinions. All of them have merit.
Carmel star Jordan Wood, a Michigan State recruit, is good friends with Beaumont. She had a ready answer.
“That’s easy — it’s definitely her patience,” said Wood, whose team split a pair of games with Benet this season. “And she’s so unselfish. She knows even if she has a shot, there’s probably someone on her team that has a better shot, so she will pass.
“But if there is a big-game situation, she’s not nervous. She’s ready to take the shot, so her patience on the court is amazing. That’s definitely what it is.”
Beaumont, who has over two dozen major Division I offers, is having an amazing season for Benet (24-3).
She’s averaging 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting a team-best 42% from 3-point range and 80.2% from the free-throw line. She leads the team in scoring, assists, steals, deflections and charges taken.
She’s the foremost reason why the Redwings, who beat Marist 47-37 Saturday in the East Suburban Catholic Conference Tournament third-place game, are the top-ranked team in the state in Class 4A despite having their most inexperienced roster in a decade.
“She’s having a great year,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “Her skill set is really elite. That’s the thing that’s great about her. She’s not just one-dimensional. She’s rebounding, assisting, getting steals, running the show.”
It wasn’t always this way. Beaumont was a role player as a freshman before becoming a starter during the pandemic season as the Redwings went 11-1 behind Kendall Moriarty, now a freshman at Nebraska.
But Kilbride always anticipated Beaumont’s emergence.
“Last year, she was kind of in Kendall Moriarty’s shadow,” Kilbride said. “She’s stepped out of that shadow and is playing the way we knew she could.
“I don’t know that it’s a surprise. Any time she shoots and misses I’m surprised. Oh, she didn’t make that shot, that’s unusual.”
Beaumont, who is still growing into her frame, can make breathtaking plays with the ball, often slicing through or around the defense before whipping no-look passes to teammates.
Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel, whose team lost to Benet 45-31 on Jan. 24, called Beaumont “sneaky quick” — and not only on offense.
“She just kind of glides,” Stritzel said. “One thing I don’t think she gets credit for is she does a great job on defense with her length. She plays point guard, and it’s hard to pass the ball over her. It’s hard to get into the initial offense because she makes that pass higher and they can shoot the gaps on that.
“That’s what I was impressed with watching her. They took us out of our early offense and we had to go to Plan B.”
Beaumont had a plan to take her game from Point A to Point B in anticipation of ascending to a leadership role. It involved plenty of hours in the gym.
“Coming into this year, I knew I had to step up to play my role and do what coach has been expecting of me,” Beaumont said. “Summer basketball really helped getting all that exposure in pressure situations.
“I’ve been trying to work on everything I possibly can. It’s been really fun.”
Beaumont is fun to watch and interesting to talk to. She gives thoughtful answers to questions seeking insight into her evolution as a player.
“My biggest improvement has been mentally, not worrying about making mistakes,” Beaumont said. “If I miss a shot, like who cares?
“I continue to shoot the ball and not be scared. I’m trying to continuously be more aggressive each and every game and not worry about every little thing that goes wrong.”
Few things have gone wrong for the Redwings, who have high expectations heading into the state playoffs, which begin Saturday, Feb. 12.
For the first time, Beaumont and Navy-bound center Morgan Demos will be linchpins in determining how far Benet goes.
“It’s going to be a new experience,” Beaumont said. “I haven’t had to be in such a big-time pressure situations and be one of those leaders on the team, so I’m super excited.
“We’re going to play some really good teams, so every game we’ve got to lock in and not even think about what if we lose. Just focus on we’re going to win and be confident.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.