Greenville Christian took a pair of games from Benton Academy on Monday night.
Lady Raiders 34,
Lady Saints 38
Greenville Christian avenged the earlier loss to Benton with a 38-34 victory over the Lady Raiders.
Hall Redfearn thinks both teams are so evenly matched that any game between them could go either way.
“When we played them the first time, it was a close game,” Redfearn said. “They panicked over there, and we came out with a win. That’s what happened on Monday, except the opposite happened. We’re pretty evenly matched. We played well, but we went into a scoring lull in the third quarter.”
Benton swung first in the battle, outscoring Greenville Christian 11-6 in the first quarter.
Greenville Christian struck back with a counter punch in the second quarter. They put up 14 points to Benton’s eight to make it a 20-19 game with Greenville Christian up at the half.
The lull that Redfearn referenced occurred in the third quarter, where Benton was only able to put up five points. They gave up nine points to let the Lady Saints go up 29-25.
Benton valiantly tried to regain the lead in the fourth, but they only outscored GCS 10-9 to make the final 38-34.
Amber Porter led the Lady Raiders in scoring with eight points.
Catie Merrell and Madelyn Manor each had seven points in the loss.
Raiders 41,
Saints 65
The Saints swept the Raiders on the season after taking them down 65-41 on Monday night.
Benton Academy head basketball coach Ralph Vanlandingham believed his team was simply overmatched.
“We got whooped by a good ball club,” Vanlandingham said. “They are better than anyone we’ve played this season. They’re so athletic that they’ve neutralized our running game. It put us at a disadvantage.”
The Saints took the lead in the first quarter after outscoring Benton 17-10.
Greenville Christian extended their lead with a 21 to 14 quarter to make it a 38-24 at the half.
The break did nothing to slow down Greenville Christian. They put up 15 points to Benton’s 10 to extend their lead to 53-34.
In the final quarter of play, the Saints finished off their dominant performance by outscoring Benton 12-7 to take the game 65-41.
Roger Hancock led the Raiders with 20 points in the defeat.
Benton will return to the hard court on Monday for their regular season finale on the road against Carroll Academy.
Tip-off for the first game is set for 6 p.m.
