Benet’s Lenee Beaumont relishes a challenge.
The senior guard got a big one Tuesday when the Redwings hosted La Lumiere, a prep school from La Porte, Indiana, led by UConn recruit Ashlynn Shade.
“I knew from the AAU circuit how tough she was,” Beaumont said. “She’s an amazing player. I played with her at the USA camp (in June), as well, so I got to know her a little bit.”
In a rare matchup featuring two players ranked in the top 100 in the nation, the Indiana-bound Beaumont scored a career-high 30 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals as the Redwings beat La Lumiere 56-49 in their season opener.
Beaumont is ranked 83rd in the country in the senior class by ESPN, while Shade is ranked 15th. Shade led the Lakers (1-1) with 24 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
“I really admire how great of a player she is, so it was awesome to have that level of competition,” Beaumont said. “It is not an everyday thing, and I think it will definitely prepare us down the road when it comes to playoffs because we’re not going to see much better of a player than that.”
Indeed, the 5-foot-10 Shade, who led Noblesville to the Indiana Class 4A state championship last season before transferring, scored 20 of her 24 points in the final 18 minutes to rally the Lakers from a 19-point deficit.
Showing newfound aggressiveness, the 6-0 Beaumont scored Benet’s first eight points of the third quarter, capped by a driving three-point play, to give the Redwings a 37-18 lead.
“She was really special tonight,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “I thought she walked that fine line of being both aggressive and patient. Some people just yank it. She was taking good shots.”
Beaumont sank the first shot of the game and finished 10 of 20. She also was 7 of 8 from the line.
“When I see the first basket go in, then I start to get a little less anxious, so that was nice to get that going early,” Beaumont said. “But I knew second half they were going to come out strong.
“Ashlynn was shooting it pretty well at the end of the second quarter, so we had to make our point right away.”
Beaumont did, and then Shade answered for the Lakers, sinking a baseline jumper over Beaumont with 22 seconds left in the game to pull within 52-49.
But senior center Samantha Trimberger, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds, answered by sinking both ends of a 1-and-1, and Beaumont followed suit with 5.4 seconds left to ice it.
“They came out hot. They came out more physical than us,” La Lumiere coach Matt Marvin said. “But it was fun to watch Lenee and Ash kind of go back and forth.
“Indiana is getting a great, great player in Lenee Beaumont. Two great players going against each other in a high school gym, you don’t get to see that very often. It was fun.”
Even for Shade, who enjoyed playing in front of Benet’s enthusiastic fans.
“It was great,” Shade said. “I haven’t seen Lenee since the USA camp, but it was cool to actually play a game against her. She’s awesome. It was such a competitive game, good environment.
“It’s always great to go against other great players because it challenges me to be a better player, and it challenges her as well.”
Beaumont and Shade guarded each other in the fourth quarter. Shade tallied the last six points for La Lumiere but did not attempt a 3-point shot against Beaumont.
“They were creeping back,” Beaumont said. “When (Kilbride) told me to go on her, I just knew I had to do everything in my power not to give up a 3 because she was shooting it pretty well.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.