Benet senior Shannon Earley didn’t play basketball last season, but she had a good reason.

Earley decided to return this season, and Benet coach Joe Kilbride happily welcomed her back, with equally good reason.

“I took a year off for my travel lacrosse,” Earley said. “I was a basketball and soccer player before I started playing lacrosse. I dropped soccer in fifth grade to focus on lacrosse mainly and basketball second.

“As soon as I got to high school, I was playing on a really high-level lacrosse team called Lakeshore Lacrosse and traveled a lot with them.”

It didn’t take Earley long to develop into one of the best lacrosse players in the state. As a freshman, she was the Redwings’ second-leading scorer, leading them to fourth in the state.

As a sophomore, the 5-foot-11 Earley also earned a state medal in basketball, appearing in 10 games and scoring 10 points as the Redwings finished fourth in Class 4A.

But Earley was heavily recruited for lacrosse last fall. Between campus visits and travel tournaments, she didn’t feel she had time to commit to basketball. Benet ended up reaching the 4A state championship game.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d still be doing camps throughout the winter to be recruited,” she said. “The process worked out pretty quickly for me, which was lucky, but I didn’t want to give (Kilbride) a wishy-washy answer. So I just told him straight up that I was out.”

Earley eventually committed to Notre Dame, the alma mater of her parents and grandparents. But she wasn’t ready to give up her basketball career for good.

“I decided to come back, and (Kilbride) was nice to welcome me back this year,” Earley said. “I’m really happy to be back.”

Welcoming Earley back was a no-brainer for Kilbride. With twins Maggie and Emilia Sularski being the only other seniors, Earley fills an important leadership niche.

“Oh, absolutely,” Kilbride said. “She’s a Division I athlete. You can never have enough of those.

“She’s fit in really well. Part of it is she’s a very high-character kid. She plays really hard, and she slid into a role.”

That role is to back up sophomore Emma Briggs at center. Earley and the 5-11 Briggs are forwards who have to play center due to Benet’s relative lack of size.

“She’s a massive part of the team,” Briggs said. “I love having her on the team. She’s not only super athletic, but she’s an amazing person on and off the court and very skillful.”

Earley got a rare chance to show off those skills Wednesday night, when Briggs picked up two quick fouls against visiting Nazareth. Earley, who played about half of the game, made her only shot and contributed a team-high seven rebounds and two assists in Benet’s 51-33 East Suburban Catholic Conference loss.

“Emma is really talented, so being able to help her out today was good,” Earley said. “It shows that our team is really athletic and able to play for each other in situations like that.”

Earley and the Redwings (6-4, 2-1) had their hands full against the Roadrunners, the defending Class 3A state champions, who have two Division I recruits up front with 6-0 Olivia Austin (Dartmouth) and 6-1 Danielle Scully (Ohio).

“I know this isn’t the outcome we wanted, but I was happy with the way I was able to compete just on the boards,” Earley said “Our team is really young, and we don’t have a ton of varsity experience, so these games are really good for our younger players just to be able to be more confident.

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“Honestly, we’re kind of investing in the long run knowing that we’re not necessarily going to be playing our best basketball in December. It’s when it comes down to March that we need to be playing our best.”

The chemistry between Earley and Briggs, a first-year starter, will be one key to that. Briggs was thrilled to see Earley play so well.

“I’m so proud of her,” Briggs said. “She works so hard at practice. It really pays off.”

Possibly in more playing time for Earley.

“She’s trying to do exactly what we need from her, which is great,” Kilbride said. “Her role will expand over the course of the year as she gets more comfortable and remembers what the orange round thing is. We’re happy to have her.”

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