Benet senior forward Emma Briggs was forced into expanding her unique game.
She plays the post for the Redwings by virtue of being taller than most of her peers. But Briggs spends the summer playing with the Great Britain national team — her father is from Leicester, England. Training with players older than her was great for her development and showed her that she had to expand her game.
“I’m undersized there, so I had to become a shooting guard and like a three,” she said after Benet’s 58-36 victory over Nazareth on Saturday. “I definitely worked on [my shot] there because also the three-point line is farther back. I had to work on my range there, too.”
Briggs hit a huge three-pointer in the third quarter when Benet made a run to take control of the game. As she hustled back on defense, she held the follow-through for emphasis, but not in a showboat type of way. It was confidence and validation that her work in the offseason had paid off.
“When I hit threes now, I’m more expecting it,” she said. “I was just thinking more like, ‘Let’s get on a roll.’ We were on a scoring run, so let’s just keep the energy up.”
Fifteen of Briggs’ game-high 24 points came in the third quarter. Her assertiveness is a big reason why Benet was able to create separation.
Briggs is a versatile piece who is at the center of everything the Redwings do -offensively. She can score in the post just as easily as she can handle the ball on the perimeter. She scored 25 points in a big victory against Prospect and stepped up again Saturday.
“She’s just so patient on offense,” coach Joe Kilbride said. “She’s like a point center. She’s like a [Nikola] Jokic where we get her the ball and we’re playing off of her. She’s not in the box a lot of the time. She’s facilitating and distributing, which makes it really hard to guard.”
Junior guard Ava Mersinger is an adept passer who routinely found Briggs for easy baskets around the rim, senior guard Ava Thomas is a knockdown three-point shooter (11 points) and Richmond commit Bridget Rifenburg (eight points) complements Briggs as an additional inside-out scorer.
On one possession, Briggs had the ball in her hands at the top of the key. She patiently sifted through her options before faking a dribble handoff to try to get an advantage in the post after Nazareth switched the action.
Instead of allowing Briggs to operate one-on-one, Nazareth sent two defenders at her. Briggs saw the double-team coming and found an open Thomas on the left wing.
“It’s nice to be part of it all,” Briggs said. “I’m not the only one scoring, but I can help other people get better shots.
“It’s more about how I can help other people as well, not just me.”
Here’s a look at the season’s first rankings:
1. Benet (8-1): Beat Nazareth on Saturday
2. Waubonsie Valley (11-0): Own wins vs. Prospect, Glenbrook South
3. Loyola (9-1): Beat Kenwood on Tuesday
4. Lyons (9-1): Wins against Benet, St. Ignatius
5. Naperville Central (8-1): Trinity Jones is back from torn ACL
6. Nazareth (8-1): Lost to Benet
7. Kenwood (8-3): In Las Vegas for holiday tournament
8. Maine South (7-2): Wins vs. Glenbrook South, Libertyville
9. Libertyville (8-2): One of its losses came vs. Maine South
10. Glenbrook South (8-3): Impressive wins vs. Carmel, Prospect
11. Hersey (6-2): Wins over Fremd, Maine South
12. Fremd (8-2): Wins over McAuley, Lake Zurich
13. Carmel (7-3): Freshman Liv Johnson is superb
14. Downers Grove North (8-1): Beat Lyons on Tuesday
15. Mother McAuley (6-2): Undefeated in conference
16. Prospect (5-5): Needs a signature win
17. St. Charles East (6-2): Showdown with St. Charles North on Friday
18. Marist (8-1): Lone loss to Carmel
19. Bolingbrook (6-1): Lone loss to DePaul Prep
20. Providence (9-1): Win over St. Ignatius
21. Trinity (8-2): Plays Taft on Monday
22. St. Ignatius (5-4): Beat Evanston on Saturday
23. St. Charles North (10-0): Needs a signature win
24. Lane (4-5): Beat Young
25. Young (2-4): Soph Jordyn Ellis has taken a step