The Bennett County Lady Warriors basketball team bounced back from a loss to Lyman the night before to dominate Colome 70-28 last Saturday afternoon in Colome. The girls led just 29-24 at the halftime break, but after leading 35-28, held the Cowgirls scoreless for the rest of the game while tossing in 35 unanswered points.
Not sure what Coach Waln said at halftime but we need to bottle that up!
The Lady Warriors showed signs of running away with the game early taking a 23-11 lead after one quarter, led by senior Amia Cottier’s nine points.
Colome showed some fight running off 10 unanswered points to trail by just two at 23-21.
The Lady Warriors would edge ahead and lead 29-24 at the half.
It was all Bennett County after that as they allowed just four second half points on their way to the rout. After scoring 29 first half points, they scored 27 in the third quarter alone with Cottier scoring 10 and Madi Waln 9 points in that frame.
Warrior freshman Jadyn Standing Soldier scored the final six points of the game capping off a solid night with 13 points.
Cottier had a great game with several steals and 23 points to lead the Lady Warriors. Freshman Madi Waln had one of her best games of the year dropping in 16 points on the night. Kaylee Byrne added 5 points, Taytlin Dillon 5, Sophia May 4, Raven Heathershaw 2 and Hadley Schomp 2.
“We had a bit of a letdown, being tired, from the game the night before and all of the bus travel,” said head coach Duke Waln. “We talked about this very situation and we weren’t ready for this possibility. We allowed too many easy opportunities for their offense on our weak side and with their dribble penetration in the first half. At halftime we challenged the girls to make the necessary adjustments. Coach Evans made a few simple changes to what we wanted done on offense and we made some changes to our defensive pressure, positioning and energy. The girls reacted positively and we were able to get a comfortable win.”
Player of the game for Colome is Amia Cottier. “Her game is about energy and we used that energy to help boost our defensive pressure. The other girls built off of her energy.”
The Bennett County Lady Warriors took a pounding at the hands of a good, undefeated Lyman team last Friday in Presho, landing on the short end of an 84-26 score.
The host Lady Raiders shot to a 5-0 lead before Lady Warrior Sophia May scored to make it 5-2.
Lyman capitalized on Bennett County turnovers and streaked to a 13-2 lead with the run stopped by a basket by Taytlin Dillon.
The home team led 17-4 at the first quarter buzzer. Ally Salomon scored the Lady Warriors first points of the second quarter to make the score 22-6.
The Lady Warriors struggled at the line missing their first 10 free throws and Lyman shot to a 35-10 lead.
Kaylee Byrne said enough is enough and scored the final nine Warrior points of the quarter, including making three free throws to give Bennett County hope as they trailed 37-19 at the half.
The third quarter was a struggled for the Lady Warriors as they managed just three points, all by Byrne, and the lead was now 40 heading to the final quarter at 62-22. Lyman went on to capture an 84-26 win.
There was no JV game as that was played earlier in the season.
Kaylee Byrne had her best game of the year with 13 points and a solid rebounding performance to lead Bennett County. Dixie Heathershaw added 4 points, Jadyn Standing Soldier 3, Sophia May 2, Taytlin Dillon 2 and Ally Salomon 2.
“They have a very good team and we learned a great deal from that game,” said coach Waln. “We played our best half of basketball in the first half. We are learning to play more aggressively and that we can play basketball with good teams for periods. The second half showed that we need to improve on mental conditioning and to start believing in ourselves. We will continue to work on gaining confidence on our abilities and improving our limitations.”
“Player of the Lyman game is Kaylee Byrne. She dominated the first half in the post and is starting to understand the position better every day.”
The girls next game is this Friday at home against Little Wound. They host Jones County Saturday.