Sophomore guard Maggie Sularski took a deep breath and sank the free throw for Benet.
Then she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Definitely it was relief, joy, everything,” Sularski said. “It was just amazing.”
Sularski’s shot with 0.6 seconds remaining Thursday night clinched a scintillating 55-51 victory over Naperville North in the Class 4A East Aurora Sectional championship game.
It’s the fifth sectional title in the past seven full seasons for the top-seeded Redwings (29-3), who will play Whitney Young (22-5) at 7 p.m. Monday in the Mother McAuley Supersectional.
“Before every single game, we always do visualizing where we breathe, close our eyes and think what if we’re exactly in this position,” Sularski said. “I just breathed and it went in.”
It was a sweet ending to an otherwise difficult fourth quarter for Benet, which missed 11 free throws in the final eight minutes and finished 16 of 34 overall.
Sularski, who ended up with nine points and five rebounds, had missed her last four foul shots, including the first of her final pair.
The struggles weren’t limited to Benet’s supporting cast, either. Star guard Lenee Beaumont went 3-for-9 from the line, splitting a pair with 6.5 seconds left to make it 54-51.
“It was a crazy game, no doubt, up and down,” said Beaumont, who overcame foul trouble to score 14 points. “Free-throw wise, me personally and as a team, we could have done a little better but it says a lot we didn’t lose our composure.”
A lesser team might have, especially against a highly motivated team like second-seeded Naperville North (30-4), which was playing in its first sectional final since 1996 while looking to erase decades of frustration against Benet.
The Huskies trailed 35-19 early in the third quarter but rallied behind seniors Kenzie Hare and Sarah Crossett and juniors Abby Drendel and Peyton Fenner, who combined to sink seven 3-pointers in the second half.
Fenner’s second 3-pointer cut the deficit to 53-51 with 10 seconds to go. After Beaumont’s free throw, Drendel had a decent look at a tying 3-pointer from the left corner, but the shot hit the side of the backboard and Sularski grabbed the rebound.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” Naperville North coach Erin Colletti said. “You can’t do that against them.
“We said we were going to chip away, that it was going to take time and it was going to be in the fourth quarter that we were going to get close or tie it up. We had opportunities. We hit some big shots, but we also missed some big shots.”
The Redwings did a good job defensively on the Saint Louis-bound Hare, who had a team-high 14 points and five assists but shot 3 of 12.
Colletti said Hare, who finished with 2,494 career points, and Tufts recruit Crossett, who had 13 points and six rebounds, will be sorely missed.
“They are irreplaceable,” Colletti said. “I feel like they deserve more. This team has been incredible, amazing, wonderful. They’re amazing girls to coach.”
The Huskies will return Drendel, Fenner and Layla Henderson, who all scored eight points Thursday.
The Redwings, meanwhile, kept alive their hopes of a third state title since 2014-2015. Navy-bound senior center Morgan Demos had a game-high 18 points and 13 rebounds.
“She was a beast,” Sularski said. “They could not guard her.”
Even when the Huskies rallied, Demos never lost confidence.
“We worked so hard all season,” she said. “I believe in myself and my team. I knew we could do this.”
Demos and Beaumont were on the top-ranked Benet team that was upset by Bolingbrook two years ago in the sectional final.
“We said we’re not going to let that happen again,” Beaumont said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.