The Benton Lady Panthers improved to 2-3 in the 6A South with a 47-35 victory over the Texarkana Lady Razorbacks Tuesday at Benton Arena. The Lady Panthers had six players score from five to 12 points in the win.
“Pretty balanced; that’s always good,” Benton Coach Jerry Chumley said. “We had a lot of opportunities to score more points but we missed them. We executed our plays well, got some short shots, just missed some. Overall, we played hard. Our kids are playing hard, battling through constant pressure.”
Benton (5-13, 2-3 South) jumped on the Lady Backs 7-0 to start the game when senior Taylor Oglesby hit 2 of 2 free throws and junior Lenzie Newman hit 2 of 2 free throws and a three assisted by sophomore forward Lauren Hopper.
Senior Abby Clay’s three from senior Skyler Davis made it 10-3 Benton with 1:46 left in the first, and the Lady Panthers led 12-7 after one.
Texarkana (0-10, 0-5) came back to make it 17-14 late in the second, but Hopper hit a 5-foot jumper from Oglesby for the 19-14 halftime lead.
Benton led 29-20 after three, but the Lady Backs got within 33-29 with 4:14 left in the game before the Lady Panthers responded with a 6-0 run with layups coming from Oglesby, sophomore Italei Gray and Hopper.
Panthers pound Razorbacks
It was a no-doubter for the Benton Panthers on Tuesday at Benton Arena. The Texarkana Razorbacks took a 3-0 lead, but junior sharp-shooter Westin Riddick hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter for a 19-11 lead after one, and would cruise to a 66-40 shellacking over the Razorbacks in 6A South action.
Not only did the Panthers (11-6, 3-2 South) have a good first quarter, they totally dominated the Razorbacks (8-7, 0-5) in the second quarter, outscoring them 26-13 for a 45-24 lead at the half.
Texarkana hit a three to open the second quarter to get within 19-14, but senior Cason Maertens hit consecutive 3-pointers to start a 9-0 run, which turned into a 17-1 run capped by senior Clay Anderson’s layup assisted by Maertens. Benton shot 14 of 24 (58 percent) from the field, 6 of 9 from three and had 10 assists vs. just two turnovers in the first half.
“That’s the cleanest half of basketball I think we’ve played all year,” Benton Coach Dexter Hendrix said. “I thought we did a really good job with player movement, ball movement and making the extra pass. It always helps when you’re making shots as well. I was proud of the way we played that first half.”