By MATT PIKE
The last time ever between the Benton Lady Cardinals and the Lafayette was was a thrilling finish, coming down to the wire in a double overtime battle, ending with the Cardinals claiming the Class 4 District 16 championship 53-51.
In the third matchup between the two teams, the Cardinals trailed the Irish after the first half. A low scoring first quarter saw Lafayette take a 7-4 lead, the Irish extended their lead through the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 14-8, and holding a 21-12 halftime lead. Lafayette's Emery Omon scored 10 of her team high 20 points in the first half.
But much like the previous matchups, halftime was where the narrative changed hands. In the Kearney tournament, when Benton led big at halftime, Lafayette stormed back into the game. In their final regular season matchup, the Irish led after the first half, and Benton took over in the second half. Again in this game, it was the Cardinals in the second half coming back, outscoring Lafayette 21-10 in the third quarter, taking a two point lead 33-31.
Head coach Rebecca Bailey says a good talk in the locker room at halftime and key adjustments to what Lafayette was doing defensively were what changed the tone in the third quarter.
"Finding those gaps, getting downhill, taking the ball to the hole strong, and I really feel like it was our defense," Bailey tells reporters after the game. "We just had to sit down and play good defense and be where you're supposed to be there, and that's what made the difference for us down the stretch."
Set for an exciting final quarter of regulation, defense ruled the fourth in a low scoring affair, the two teams ending the fourth quarter tied at 39. Going into overtime, it was again low scoring, but the one overtime would not be enough, forcing a second overtime as the first period ended tied at 45. In the second period, the Cardinals were able to pull away, two free throws from senior Eliana Arambula with just under seven seconds left in the game sealing the victory 53-51.
"Elli she's a senior, she shows great leadership, she's kind of a kid that's been there, done that, so I think she's a kid that goes to the line with 100% confidence and so that's one of the many things I love about her," Bailey says. "So it wasn't even a thought, we knew every time we talked during a timeout, when you make these two free throws, not if, it's when you make these two free throws that's what we're going to do, so she goes to the line with confidence and we have nothing but the upmost confidence in her."
Arambula, surrounded by her teammates after the game, says not much was going through her mind at the free throw line as the game neared it's third overtime period.
"Shoot let's get it over with, I don't know, I didn't really think I just focused on my follow through and said let me just follow through and just tried to get it in I guess but that was about it, but i don't know what everybody else was thinking, they were probably like dang it's her," Arambula ecstacily says as her teammates voiced confidence in the senior leader.
Arambula finished with eight points for Benton, along with Jalynn Brown and Mikayla Grayson. Sophomore Klarabelle Turner led the way for the Cardinals with 19 points. For the Irish, Omon finished with the team leading 20 points, while Laniya Carriger added 11 points. Rozlyn McDevitt ended with nine points.
Lafayette ends the season 23-4. It's been quite the turnaround over the last three years for the Irish since head coach Ryan Madison returned to the northside, compiling a record over those three years of 63-18. The tough part for the Irish is the district they were stuck in, with the likes of Benton, Chillicothe, and even Kearney going back to the 2019-20 season.
The Cardinals now return to the state tournament, looking to return to Columbia for a second straight year. Benton will travel to Kearney on Monday to take on Smithville in the Class 4 sectional round. Tipoff will be at 6pm
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