By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
SPRINGFIELD - It was unclear for about the first three quarters of Friday's Class 4 state semifinal between Benton and Helias Catholic whether any team could pull away.
With the game knotted at 23-23 with 2:44 left in the third, neither team had led by more than three and there had been seven ties up to that point.
Then, Benton (25-5) did something late in the third that neither team could seem to do. Score on back-to-back possessions.
Sparked by back-to-back layups by senior Lauren Burright and sophomore Avery Morlock to end the third quarter, Benton opened up an 8-0 run into the fourth, and held on for a 47-42 win over Helias Catholic Friday, putting Benton girls' basketball back into the state title for the first time since 2016 and the third time in history.
"We knew we had left some things on the table," Benton head coach Chris Michaels said coming off of a 4th place finish at state last season. "We knew that when we got back here, because we knew we were coming back, we wanted to do better than we did last year."
The game got off to a slow start, with Helias (23-8) leading 6-4 with less than three minutes left in the first quarter. Morlock hit a big three late in the first, which helped the Cardinals take an 11-10 lead entering the second.
The first half featured six lead changes, but Benton went into the locker room up 18-17.
"We went into halftime, what, up one?" Michaels recalled. "Then to come out and kind of stick your nose in the grind and do what we need to do to seal a game - that's big time. We told them, 'Experience being here already last year was going to help them out,' so we kind of leaned on that."
Benton would take its largest lead of the game at 33-25 with 4:25 to go. Helias had a scoring drought of 5:08 that stretched between the third and fourth quarter, helping the Cardinals to control the clock and momentum.
The Crusaders were held to just 32.5 percent shooting on the ay (13-of-40), and were limited to seven second quarter points and only eight in the third.
"We had gotten into some things Helias had not seen us run," Michaels said. "We put some things in specifically for this tournament. So, there's new things out there that they were not used to. So, I do think that frustrated them a tad bit."
Helias fought hard in the closing minutes, getting back to within 40-37 with 56 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, senior Jaida Cox threw in a quick layup in transition and was fouled.
Cox's free throw gave Benton a 42-37 advantage with 41 seconds left. Cox and Morlock each scored seven points.
The Cardinals shot it a bit better in the second half, going 9-of-20 from the field compared to the 6-of-21 effort in the first half.
"Back-to-back baskets, we feed off of them so much," said junior Peyton Anderson, who finished with four points and five rebounds. "Obviously, our parents are going crazy when we get back-to-back baskets. It just really hypes us up."
Burright led Benton with 12 points, including six in the fourth quarter. Junior Kelsey Johnson had 11 points and seven boards.
Senior Gabrielle Bax led Helias with 11 points. Senior Adalyn Keolling, a Missouri State commit, had nine points and seven boards.
Benton will now face John Burroughs (21-4) out of St. Louis for the Class 4 state title on Saturday evening at 6. The Bombers have won 16 straight, including a 51-37 win over St. James in the other Class 4 semi Friday.
The Cards, however, own a 13-game winning streak themselves and are now 19-1 in their last 20. In fact, Benton hasn't lost to a Missouri team in the year 2022. Their lone loss since Jan. 1 was to Kansas Class 6A state runner-up Olathe North (23-2).
Benton has achieved their first goal this weekend - finish higher at state than they did last year. One goal down. One more to go.
"We've done better than we did last year and now there's the icing on the cake is up there and the cherry on top is up there for us to eat that."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.