By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Believe it or not, the Maryville Spoofhounds had some tight games early in the 2020-21 season.
A 50-43 win over William Chrisman in the Savannah tournament, a three-point loss to now 21-0 Platte Valley and a four-point win against St. Pius X in mid-January.
Heck, even teams like Crete (39-28), East Buchanan (45-32) and Benton (54-42) at least hung in there with Maryville for a bit.
Welcoming the fourth-ranked Spoofhounds to St. Joseph, Benton was hoping for at least another close, competitive battle.
That's not really been Maryville's thing lately.
The Spoofhounds (17-1) raced out to a 15-2 first quarter lead and kept rolling in a 57-37 win over the Cardinals (9-6) at Benton High School Thursday night.
Maryville has not only won 14 straight, but they've won their last seven games by an average margin of 21 points.
"It says a lot I think," Maryville head coach Quentin Albrecht said of his team's continued improvement.
"We practice really hard and long and often. The girls have come to every practice with a lot of intensity. Some of those practices are hard, because we've missed some school and those practices you have when you get out of your routine...as a coach, those are some of our hardest practices. But, our girls have not allowed that to affect their intensity, and that intensity is spilling over to the games. You play the way you practice."
Maryville has been fun to watch offensively, but they've been just as lethal on defense. The Spoofhounds held Benton to just three total field goals in the first half, and allowed the Cardinals only one trip to the free throw line in the first two quarters.
"Lauren Cullins does a great job on the defensive end," Albrecht said. "She gets there and she scraps for rebounds. Lauren has 32 rebounds, 16 steals and she's only shot the ball 19 times this season. I saw that stat on Twitter the other day."
Senior and K-State commit Serena Sundell did what she normally does - pack the stat sheet. She scored a game-high 19 points, but she was held scoreless in the second quarter.
Benton double, if not triple-guarded Sundell at times in the lane. Sundell responded by finding Anastyn Pettlon and Emily Cassavaugh wide open for a combined four three-pointers in the second quarter alone.
The Spoofhounds made six triples in the first half compared to Benton's one.
"We can rely on so many different people," Albrecht said. "Every team tries to take away Serena, but now, we have so many other girls who can pick up the slack."
Cassavaugh, who made a team-high three triples, tallied 14 points, while Pettlon scored 16 on a pair of made threes.
"I'm pretty excited to be on this team and make those shots," Pettlon said. "Hopefully, whenever we see (Benton) in districts, we can do it again maybe. Have some more."
The Cardinals played better offensively in the third quarter, only getting outscored in that period 13-12, but Maryville had plenty of chances to get to the foul line in the second half and they took advantage.
The Spoofhounds were 15-of-21 from the charity stripe in the second half, and 20-of-28 for the game. Benton made 10-of-14 from the free throw line Thursday.
Yes, Maryville has looked unstoppable against some stiff competition. Just eight days prior, they did basically the same thing to then No. 5 Bishop LeBlond that they did to Benton on Thursday.
Next up is Cameron (16-5), Savannah (10-7) and Chillicothe (14-4) before the Class 4 District 16 tournament starts on Feb. 27. The seeding for that tournament will be out next week.
Even though Maryville has had the No. 1 seed locked up for some time now, Albrecht knows the target is on the back of the Spoofhounds.
"We're now 4-0 in (the Midland Empire) Conference," Albrecht said. "That puts us in the drivers' seat. Every other team in the conference has at least one loss. So, we come back Monday against Cameron. That'll be our most important game of the season. It's another conference game, it's another district opponent.
So, all of these wins are just setting the tone. And with it, with every game, we get a little more confident. We come in with a workman's attitude and...just go out there and work."
Maryville 57 - 15, 16, 13, 13
Benton 37 - 2, 5, 13, 17
Maryville scorers - Serena Sundell - 19, Anaystn Pettlon - 16, Emily Cassavaugh - 14, Abby Swink - 3, Rylee Vierthaler - 3, Ava Dumke - 2.
Benton scorers - Peyton Anderson - 11, Jaida Cox - 7, Kianna Herrerra - 6, Olivia Walters - 5, Alyssa White - 4, Lauren Burright - 1, Avery Morlock - 1.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.