Lady Panthers pressed into loss
BENTON – With the Benton Panthers game with the Little Rock Christian Warriors postponed due to COVID-19 quarantine for the Panthers, the Benton Lady Panthers hosted the Lady Warriors Friday night at Benton Arena in 5A Central Conference play. A close game through three quarters, LRC had a big run to open the fourth in an eventual 58-48 victory over the Lady Panthers.
Just like in their overtime loss to Sylvan Hills on Tuesday, turnovers did in the Lady Panthers Friday night in Benton. Committing 22 on Tuesday, the Lady Panthers turned it over 25 times against the Lady Warriors Friday.
“It was our Achilles’ heel this week,” Benton Coach Jerry Chumley said of the turnovers. “We had too many in Tuesday’s game and obviously too many (Friday). That’s the nature of their defense, try to turn you over, and it worked a lot.”
Little Rock Christian’s fullcourt press for most of the game sped the Lady Panthers (8-5, 0-2 Central) up into turnovers, while the Lady Warriors (11-1) committed 12 for the game.
“Our guards have to do a better job of being tougher with the basketball,” Chumley said. “Your window of opportunity is so small against that length and trapping defense. They’re really good at it.”
It seemed the Lady Warriors would run away with this one early as senior Wynter Rogers opened the game with consecutive 3-pointers. Rogers led all scorers with 27 points, adding six
rebounds and five steals.
The Lady Panthers fought back, though, as sophomore Presley Chism’s 3-pointer assisted by sophomore Alyssa Houston started a 6-0 run capped by Chism’s short jumper to tie things up. It was a battle the rest of the first quarter the Lady Warriors led 13-11.
A 10-0 run into the second quarter had LRC up
19-11 early on, but the Lady Panthers fought back again with a 6-0 run capped by junior Irelyn Flynn’s layup to get within 19-17 with
4:26 to go in the half. Down 26-22 with just over a minute remaining, Chism hit a three assisted by Flynn, seeing her first action of the season, to make it a 26-25 Benton deficit at the half.
It was a back-and-forth game for the first half of the third quarter when a Chism layup at the 4:06 mark put the Lady Panthers up 34-32. Threes by Ashton Elley and Rogers put LRC up 38-34, but Chism found freshman Wesleigh Ferguson for a bucket and Houston hit a 5-footer to tie things up at 38-38 with 1:30 left to go in the third.
It was that point when the wheels fell off for Benton. The Lady Warriors’ press helped
jumpstart a 14-0 run to put LRC up 52-38 after Sheridan Cross’ three with 4:10 left to go.
“I thought for the most part, up until the point when it was 38-38, we had done a decent job,” Chumley said of responding to turnovers. “For every turnover we had, we at least had a bucket or good
play. We had four in a row there that led to points and it got to 46-38, and that kind of broke our back a little bit.”
Again, though, the Lady Panthers fought back responding with a 10-2 run started by Ferguson’s three and capped by a Ferguson layup assisted by senior Jordan Miller for the 54-48 game with 41 seconds to go. But, Elley hit two free throws down the stretch and Rogers had a bucket at the end for the 10-point spread.
“Our kids battled,” Chumley said. “I love the way they’re battling. There’s no quit in them. A couple things go our away (Friday and Tuesday) night, we’re right there at the end. We gotta hang in there. I’ve told them good things are going to start happening, we just have to believe and keep doing what we’re doing. Just kind of clean up a couple things. We’re going to be OK.”
Ferguson led the Lady Panthers with 17 points and seven rebounds, adding two assists, with Chism adding 12 points and four assists in the loss. Houston followed with eight points and six rebounds, sophomore Madison
Mcintire had four points and four rebounds, sophomore Addison Davis three points, with junior Tuesday Melton (five rebounds) and Flynn adding two points each.
Not scoring, Miller had two assists and two rebounds.
For LRC after Rogers’ big game, Elley had 10 points, four steals and three assists, all in the second half.
Benton is back in action Tuesday when they host the Beebe Lady Badgers at Benton Arena. The Benton boys will still be in quarantine.