The No. 4 Bennington girls basketball team won at top-10 Class B matchup Tuesday at Blair High School.
The Badgers got off 14-4 start during the first quarter and never trailed after it, winning 51-34 against the No. 7 Bears (5-4 overall).
The visitors earned their early advantage using aggressive man-to-man defense against coach Matt Aschoff's team, causing turnovers — forced and unforced.
“We knew that's what they were going to do,” the BHS coach said. “They have speed. They have length. They have depth.”
It all came together to produce Bennington's 10-point advantage a little more than 4 minutes into the game, but the Bears answered. They broke the pressure and got the ball into the lane, taking advantage of up-close scoring opportunities. Addie Sullivan scored twice during the 8-2 scoring run to end the first quarter, while both Beau Wendt and Hayden Frink-Mathis — who also scored the game's first bucket on a left-handed shot off of the glass — added buckets, too.
“Sometimes when teams play aggressive, they're not used to the ball getting that deep because they get a lot of steals on the outside,” Aschoff explained.
Blair may have caught the Badgers off guard, but the Bennington squad mustered their own response.
“They did a good job, when we started getting more post touches, doubling down and getting steals,” Aschoff said. “We've just got to work better on preparing the girls. If they double-down or you see the help, don't put it in there.”
Sullivan ultimately led the Bears with 11 points in defeat, while Kate Wulf scored 10.
The Badgers' Haydin Jackson, meanwhile, scored 12 points for the 9-1 victors.
“We didn't lose to a bad team,” Aschoff said. “We did not shoot it well and they shot it well.”
BHS was scheduled to play Plattsmouth on Thursday and next competes 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Gretna on its home floor.
BHS BASKETBALL LINE SCORE
Tuesday
No. 4 Bennington 51, No. 7 Blair 34
BEN (9-1) 19 9 13 10 — 51
BHS (5-4) 12 7 4 12 — 34
Scoring: BHS — Addie Sullivan 11, Kate Wulf 10, Hayden Frink-Mathis 4, Beau Wendt 4, Ally Sullivan 3, Cadence Field 2.
BEN — Haydin Jackson 12, Presley Baca 10, Skylar Johnson 9, Harper Bohaboj 6, Macie Reiner 6, Allie John 3, Regan Bluhm 3, Addison Reinoehl 2.
