By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
LIBERTY - The Benton girls' basketball team got an early scare from St. Pius X in Tuesday's state sectional game at William Jewell.
The Warriors hit five first half three-pointers, limiting Benton to just a 26-24 halftime lead.
The Cardinals (25-3) came out of the locker room strong, however, and scored 21 third quarter points to eventually pull away in a 64-50 win over Pius in Class 4 state sectionals at the Mabee Center in Liberty Tuesday night.
Pius had their best success in the second quarter, hitting four threes in that period alone and even tying the game 24-24 at one point. The Cardinals still led 26-24 at the break and never trailed in the game.
"(Coach Chris) Michaels told us to just calm down, take our time and that really helped everybody's confidence a little," Benton senior Kelsey Johnson said. "We started hitting (shots) and it was good from there."
Indeed, the Cardinals opened the second half on a 10-2 run and led by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter.
Johnson led the way with a game-high 20 points. She led Benton with three made triples. Sophomore Andrea Simmons had some early foul trouble, but still came away with 13 points.
Junior Avery Morlock finished with 11, senior Peyton Anderson had nine and sophomore Emma Loehnig scored six off the bench.
Loehnig had some key rebounds and second chance points in moments where Simmons was on the bench with three early fouls.
"Emma Loehnig is really special to have on the floor," Benton coach Chris Michaels said. "Specifically when we don't go very deep. We trust our whole bench, but we play 6-7 girls. So, when you play 6-7 and you know you can bring in another starter, we're usually okay with that."
Freshman Kate Sell led Pius (15-13) with 14 points. She made four threes on the night. Pius made 10 total three-pointers in the loss, but the Benton defense forced 20 turnovers on the night.
"Defense starts our offense," Michaels said. "So, we needed to sit down and defend and communicate and get ready defensively and know the scout. We went through the scout one more time, and that little refresher just sparked us."
Benton, who's won 13 straight games, advances to the state quarterfinals for a third straight year. The Cardinals will face Nevada (22-6) at State Fair Community College in Sedalia on Saturday at noon.
One win stands between Benton and a third consecutive Final Four appearance.
"We still have more to play," Johnson said. "It's exciting we won that game, but that's just the beginning. We still have one more to win, and two more after that. So, we're still working."
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