Benton Cardinals get two victories on the hardwood after a short break from competition
By Calvin Silvers
We’re officially back to high school basketball being played consistently throughout the week, meaning many local teams were back in action on Thursday night. One of those teams, the Benton Cardinals, had both the boys and girls out on the hardwood, as they hosted St. Pius X.
The girls were up first and many in attendance might have thought they were in for a shoot-out after the game got out to a 3-2 score early, but then both teams would go scoreless for three minutes before Andrea Simmons knocked down a 3-pointer out of the press.
St.Pius cashed in two of their own 3-pointers in the first quarter, but went cold as they trailed 14-8 after the first quarter.
As the second quarter rolled around, Pius used their zone defense to take some of the wind out of the Lady Cardinals’ sail, but Benton was able to find the bottom of the net from downtown to force a timeout early in the quarter up 20-8.
Coming out of the timeout, Eliana Arambula started to let the ball fly from 3-point land and it would prove to be beneficial as she connected on a couple deep shots to help propel the team to a 28-14 lead at halftime.
When both teams retook the floor, it was Benton who had the energy, flying out of the gates for six quick points in less than three minutes of gametime. It would take the Warriors an entire four minutes into the second half before their first points.
Warriors would have small spurts of scoring in the second half, but it was all Lady Cardinals in the second half winning 50-37 to improve to 9-4 overall on the season.
Arumbula ended the contest with 17 points. Simmons tallied 11 of her own points.
The game right after the girls featured the same two teams, the St. Pius Warriors and the Benton Cardinals, but this time from the guy’s side of things.
It was back-and-forth as a contest can get, but it was the Warriors who initially broke open the game, building a 7-2 run in the first three minutes of game action before Lincoln Goodwin would knock in a pair of free-throws to help start a 13-8 to have this game knotted at 15 after one quarter.
After a 3-pointer and a turnover due to the Warrior pressure in the second quarter, St. Pius jumped back out to a 20-17 lead before a Benton timeout. The Cardinals would retake the lead after a Myles Bachali lay-up, but the lead would change four more times before Benton went into halftime with a 31-27 lead.
An extended lead of 35-29 was built by the Cardinals in less than three minutes, but St. Pius would retake the lead with 2:27 left in the third quarter after a Tommy Hutsler deep shot. Despite being down 41-37 with 45 seconds remaining, Benton closed the lead and both teams were tied at 41 heading into the fourth.
The quarter proved to be a dog fight, with neither team building much distance from the other. With just four minutes remaining, it was a two point Cardinal lead, and they would eventually pull away to win 62-57.
Carson Schmidt led the Cardinals with 14 points, and Talon McDowell had 7 points.
