By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
CHILLOCOTHE - It had been seven years since Lafayette girls' basketball had beaten Benton in back-to-back meetings. It had also been since 2017 that the Irish have played for a district championship.
Both of those droughts have come to an end.
Lafayette (19-6) started the second quarter on a 14-0 run, led by 10 at halftime and never trailed after in a 61-47 win over rival Benton in a Class 4 District 16 semifinal at Chillicothe High School Wednesday.
The Irish, winners in nine of their last 11 games, hit six of their eight three-pointers in the first half, including four in the second period.
They followed up their 48-43 win over Benton in the South Side back on February 6.
"Our energy was good from the start," said Lafayette senior Talicia Byrd, who scored 13 points in the win. "We knew it's hard to beat a team twice, so we had that mentality. We didn't know if we'd win the game. We just came in ready to play."
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the score was knotted at 14-14. But, after nearly four minutes of play in the second, Lafayette had raced out to a 28-14 lead, drawing a timeout from Benton.
"We did a good job of taking care of the ball early and I feel like we got a shot every possession there for quite a few in a row," Lafayette coach Ryan Madison said. "That was huge for us. We hadn't played (in Chillicothe) all year. We don't get to practice in this gym, and to shoot it like that in the first half was great."
Benton (17-9), who won't make the Final Four for the first time since 2020, got to within 48-40 midway through the fourth quarter, but never closer, as the Irish had enough answers.
It helped that Lafayette made 10 free throws in the final quarter alone. Senior Honor Mannings led the Irish with a game-high 19 points. Junior Tia Nance had nine.
Junior Andrea Simmons led Benton with 16 points. Junior Emma Loehnig had 13. Sophomore Eliana Arambula finished with 12.
The Irish now advance to the district championship, where they'll play the host school and No. 1 seed Chillicothe (24-1).
The Hornets thrashed Savannah on Wednesday, 51-23, in other semifinal.
Chillicothe went into the North Side on February 13, and it took overtime for them to beat Lafayette, 53-48. Now, the two will rematch on Friday night at 6.
The Irish now shoot for their first district title since 1989.
"We've wanted (a district title) since we came into Lafayette," Mannings said. "Our incoming freshmen have helped us out a lot this year and we owe a lot to them."
"Since we came to Lafayette, we've had a losing season since our freshman year," Byrd added, "but, it's slowly gotten better."
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