Mountain Home tops Benton 40-37 in girls’class 5 state tournament opener
SEARCY — Despite making a surge late in the second half, the Benton Lady Panthers lost 40-37 to Mountain Home in the opening round of the Class 5A State Basketball Tournament Thursday in Searcy.
At the start of the fourth, Benton faced a 12-point deficit.
However, through playing solid defense and taking care of the ball offensively, the Lady Panthers slowly chipped away at the Mountain Home lead.
With 3:57 left to play, Lady Panther post player Ashley Wallace scored in the paint to cut the Mountain Home lead to 37-29.
After both teams had possessions in which they failed to score, the next points came from Benton’s Alexis Duck who made a 3-pointer. Suddenly, with 1:18 remaining in the game, the score was 37-32 and Benton coach Jerry Chumley called a timeout.
Following the break, the Panthers came out in a full court press.
Ultimately, Benton began to foul – and with 1:10 left to play – Mountain Home guard Laykin Moore was sent to the free-throw line. She’d make one shot to increase the Lady Bomber advantage to 38-32.
But with 22 seconds left on the clock, Wallace drained a three-point shot to help Benton cut the Lady Bomber lead to 38-35.
Benton then fouled Moore with 18.9 seconds remaining. She’d make the second of the two free throws increasing the Lady Bomber advantage to 39-35.
Though time was winding down, the Lady
Panthers were still in position to win the game. They’d manage to inch closer to Mountain Home when Duck scored on a drive to the basket making the score 39-37.
In an attempt to extend the game and not allow Mountain Home to run time off the clock, Benton fouled Moore with 8.4 seconds left. Again, Moore would make 1-of-2 shots from the line pushing the Lady Bomber advantage out to 40-37.
Before Benton got the ball back in play, a timeout was called.
When the game continued, Mountain Home came out in a full court press. However, despite the pressure, Benton was able to get the ball inbounds. Eventually, a tightly contested threepoint heave by Kale Elrod – just before time expired – fell short of the rim as Benton was defeated, ending its season.
Benton got off to a solid start in this game as it led 10-4 after one quarter of play.
The Lady Panthers – a 2 seed from the South – led by as much as 8 due to getting scoring contributions from several areas of the floor. Meanwhile, Mountain Home struggled offensively and looked rather lethargic for most of the opening quarter.
But as the first half progressed, Mountain Home settled in.
Offensively, the
Lady Bombers properly executed their sets which featured constant player movement and ball movement. Defensively, Mountain Home used a press to disrupt Benton’s offense. Those factors made it possible for Mountain Home to go on a run which began with a few seconds left in the opening period – and continued well into the second.
Eventually, Mountain
Home built its advantage to 17-10 with under 3 minutes left until halftime. At the intermission, Benton trailed the Lady Bombers 19-12.
In the third, Mountain Home maintained its momentum. During the third, the Lady Bombers, a four seed from the West, would build their biggest lead of the game. The play of Moore made a big difference in the spurt as the guard scored 10 points in the quarter.
After three, Benton trailed 33-21.
In the fourth, the Lady Panthers – competing with a sense of desperation – battled back and had their chances for a come-from-behind win late. But Mountain Home was able to hold on to earn the victory.
Benton’s scoring leader was Duck who had 12 while Wallace scored 9 and Elrod had 6.
Moore led the way for Mountain Home with 18 while Jayla Yonkers and Livi Fosness both had 7 points apiece.