Emma Briggs can play any one of several positions, depending on her team’s needs.
But there is one constant for Benet’s 6-foot junior. As she keeps getting better, so do her teams.
“She’s kind of a latecomer to basketball,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “She didn’t start playing seriously until eighth grade, so her rate of progress I think is greater than a lot of other girls who have been playing for twice as long.
“That is showing up right now. She’s starting to put her skills with her athleticism, and she’s really playing well for us.”
Briggs has been better than ever this season, her third on varsity. She’s averaging 9.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal for the Redwings (21-1, 8-0), who have won 21 straight games and lead the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
Listed as a forward, Briggs plays mostly center for Benet. But she played guard for Great Britain’s U16 women’s national team in each of the past two FIBA EuroBasket tournaments.
Briggs, whose father Richard is a native of England, helped Great Britain finish sixth in Division B in 2023. Last August in Turkey, she started at guard and averaged 10.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals in seven games. She had 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists during Great Britain’s 84-62 victory against Turkey in the third-place game that secured the team’s promotion to the 20-team Division A for the first time.
“That was amazing,” Briggs said. “This year, I was a starter, which was great, and I had more of a scoring role. I got to touch the ball a lot more, and they were fine with me shooting whenever I wanted, so I think I played a lot better.”
While Briggs is one of Benet’s tallest players, she was one of the shorter ones for Great Britain. She was able to refine her guard skills, which will be key to her prospects at the college level and already are creating matchup nightmares for Benet’s opponents.
“She’s doing a great job of dishing to us and figuring out when she should attack and when she should kick it to her teammate,” Benet junior guard Bridget Rifenburg said. “She’s just making us such a better team overall because she can get big rebounds, she can get in the paint, and when she’s in the paint, she’s such a distraction to the defense.
“When they collapse, she knows when to kick it out, and she makes some really great passes.”
That makes Benet’s offense extremely efficient and diversified. Any of the five starters can lead the team in scoring in a given game.
“Her passing has been exceptional,” Kilbride said of Briggs. “She’s able to guard four positions. On offense, she can play four positions.
“She initiates a lot of our offense, her rebounding is very good and her shot-making has gotten better. There’s really no area of her game that hasn’t made improvement.”
It’s anyone’s guess which skill Briggs will utilize most in a game. She scored on three great spin moves in the paint during Benet’s 74-48 rout of Libertyville at the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest on Monday, finishing with 11 points and four assists.
On Wednesday, Briggs had four points, four steals and two assists as the Redwings crushed St. Viator 65-25 in a conference game in Arlington Heights.
Much of that production came early. Briggs made steals on the first three possessions, converting the first into a layup and feeding Rifenburg and sophomore guard Ava Mersinger for baskets on the other two. The Lions fell behind 13-0 and didn’t recover.
“I play faster now,” Briggs said. “Obviously, the game is a lot faster (in Europe). I have more confidence in my ballhandling skills because I was used to it more there. My spin move that I do, I’ve got that nailed down now.”
Briggs said her experience playing for Great Britain has elevated her game.
“It’s given me confidence to be a leader, to be someone who can lead the team and strengthen the team as a group, to be the glue,” Briggs said. “We all need to stay together.”
Rifenburg, a Richmond commit whose game is similar to Briggs’, said they stick together, and so do the Redwings.
“We have a lot of chemistry,” Rifenburg said. “We kind of know where we’re going to be at different times, like I know when to cut off her.
“We’re really close. We’ve been playing together for three years, so I think that’s been showing on the court recently.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
