By Tim Huether With their second win in two nights, the Bennett County Lady Warriors basketball team is starting to roll a bit, defeating Crazy Horse Jan. 29 and Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Jan. 30, both road games.
They defeated Crazy Horse 65-20 and CEB 53-46.
At Eagle Butte, freshmen Madi Waln led the way for Bennett County with 13 points and Jadyn Standing Soldier added 12. Kaylee Byrne, a sophomore, had 10 points.
The Lady Warriors set the tone early, jumping on top 5-0, then 12-4, with Byrne scoring the games first five points.
The host Lady Braves fought back scoring the final five points of the opening quarter to make it a 12-9 game.
After CEB made it 12-11, Dixie Heathershaw scored four straight points to make it 16-11.
Bennett County took at 2413 lead to the locker room at halftime with Standing Soldier wrapping up the scoring with a put back on an offensive rebound.
The Lady Warriors took their largest lead of the game to start the third quarter at 26-13, but CEB made it a game by scoring the final seven points of the third to make it a three point Warrior lead at 35-32.
The Lady Braves came within one point at 36-35, but from there, the Lady Warriors took care of the ball and scored 11 unanswered points for a 47-35 lead with three minutes to play, then held on for the 53-46 win.
“I am proud of this team on how they continue to fight through adversity,” said head coach Duke Waln. “We came out strong in the first half, playing strong defense out of our zone. We found a rhythm by pushing the ball and getting looks for our post players when the transition wasn’t there.”
“The third quarter was a bit of a letdown, our defense didn’t have the same intensity and we let them back in the game,” continued Waln. “We switched to man defense and it focused the girls again and we were able to finish the game strong. Simple is our concept going forward. We want to girls to continue to develop confidence and play together. We have a stretch of games coming up that are going to be fun to watch these girls develop and grow through playing in competitive games. These varsity girls have had many doubters over the year and most people outside the program didn’t have confidence in their abilities. They are fighters and we are proud of them.”
Players of the game are Jaydyn Standing Soldier and Kaylee Byrne.
Bennett County scoring: Madi Waln 13, Jadyn Standing Soldier 12, Kaylee Byrne 10, Amia Cottier 8, Hadley Schomp 4, Dixie Heathershaw 4, Sophia May 2.
The Junior Varsity continued to roll unbeaten, pounding CEB 60-33. You don’t see a lot of JV teams scoring 60 points, especially since they play less time than the varsity teams, but this team is quick and skilled for their age.
Seventh grader Peyson O’Neill poured in 23 points for Bennett County in the win and her eighth grade sister Raegan added 12 points.
Bennett County led 14-5 after one quarter and 32-13 at the half. O’Neill had 12 points in the second quarter and Jadyn Standing Soldier 6 points in the second quarter.
It was a 41-27 score heading to the final quarter and they cruised from there for the 6033 win.
BC JV scoring: Peyson O’Neill 22, Raegan O’Neill 12, Jadyn Standing Soldier 10, Madi Waln 6, Harley Harris 6, Jersey Frederick 2, Niasha Whirlwind Horse 2.
“These girls are needing to be challenged, but that being said they continue to come out every day and work hard,” said coach Waln. “Last night was no different, they used their athleticism to dominate on both sides of the floor. We attack the boards hard and play passing lanes aggressively, that it is hard for teams to get any type of rhythm against us. As coaches, we need to develop ways to challenge them in practice and during games, so that is our goal to finish the season.”
Players of the game are Reagan O’Neill and Catelyn Fry.