Rebecca Benichou and a three-point shot that will be talked about for generations

Posted: March 4th 2024

Wildwood freshman Rebecca Benichou stands in the exact spot from which she made the winning three-point shot in Saturday's South Jersey title game. Two days after the game, the scoreboard in the Wildwood High School gymnasium still reflected the final score.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Saturday morning, about five hours before the tip of a championship game, Rebeca Benichou went to the North Wildwood Recreation Center to get some shots up.

She also allowed her mind to dream a little bit.

“I was joking around with my mom,” Benichou said, “and I was counting down, like three, two, one, and shooting three-pointers like it was the last shot of the game.”

That dream turned to reality later that day.

Technically, it wasn’t a buzzer beater. But it sure was late. 

Benichou sank the biggest shot of her life, a left corner three-pointer with 2.4 seconds to play that gave the Wildwood High School girls basketball team the South Jersey Group I title, lifting the Lady Warriors to a 54-53 victory over Woodstown.

It’s the kind of shot that makes legends. It’ll be talked about in the Wildwood basketball community for a long time. Maybe forever.

REBECCA BENICHOU

A couple of days later, Benichou was still trying to grasp the enormity of the moment.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” Benichou said following Monday’s practice in preparation for Wednesday’s state semifinal against Shore at Deptford High School at 5 p.m. “It’s amazing that we won.”

Benichou was standing in the right corner at the start of the play before quickly running to the left corner. Teammate Macie McCracken dribbled up the left side and passed to Benichou.

“I saw Macie coming down the other side so I ran over to the other corner,” she recalled. “I don’t remember much from it. Honestly, I know I got the ball and put it right up. I didn’t think about it at all. I just wanted to get it off as quick as I could.”

Benichou released the shot with a defender’s hands in her face. The shot was nearly blocked. Instead, it hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

Benichou said she wasn’t sure if McCracken would pass the ball or try to go to the basket in an effort to tie the game.

“I wasn’t sure if she was going to pass it,” she said. “I was just happy that I got it and I made it. If she drove she probably would have made it, too, so no matter what it would have worked out for us.”

It was the only three-pointer Benichou made in the game. She had missed her first nine attempts. That did not deter her from taking another one in the game’s biggest moment.

“My mindset is to keep shooting and hopefully the next one will go in,” Benichou said. “Just keep shooting until it falls.”

Saturday wasn’t the first time Benichou had an opportunity to win a game with a late three-pointer. She narrowly missed a 27-footer at the buzzer in a two-point loss to Our Lady of Mercy Academy at the Boardwalk Basketball Classic in December.

“I thought about that afterward,” Benichou said. “I got to make up for that. But it was much better to make the one (Saturday) than that other one.”

Benichou has enjoyed an outstanding debut season for Wildwood. The freshman is averaging 11.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. She is one of the better shooters on a Wildwood team that leads the state in three-pointers made with 292. Benichou has made 76 from that distance.

But it’s the one on Saturday those who were in attendance or watched online will never forget.