Click here to listen to Benton head coach Brett Goodwin talk about the win
The Benton girls’ basketball team won its second state championship in school history Saturday night in Columbia as they defeated MICDS in the Class 4 title game 41-34 in double overtime inside Mizzou Arena.
The Cardinals finish the season with a perfect 31-0 record, which is also the most wins in school history, surpassing their 2007 state title team that went 30-0.
Benton had to deal with a lot of adversity Saturday night as they were without freshman guard Jayde Williams, who was injured in the semifinal game Friday. Then freshman starting guard Bailey Russell injured her leg in the second quarter and wasn’t able to return.
The game was back-and-forth all night as neither team led by more than five points the entire game until Benton took a nine-point lead in the second overtime.
BHS was down 19-14 at halftime, but they used a 6-0 run to start the second half and the game was tied 23-23 after three quarters.
Both teams struggled to score all night but MICDS used a 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 28-24 lead with about two minutes remaining. The Cardinals then got a three-pointer from Kylee Williams and one free throw from Daejah Bernard to tie game and send it to overtime.
Each team scored just two points in the first extra period, but then in the second overtime Bernard took over the game.
MICDS scored the first two points of the second OT, but then Bernard made a layup to tie the game and she forced three consecutive turnovers from the Rams’ point guard Rachel Thompson and Benton went on an 8-0 run to pull away and outlast MICDS. Bernard ended the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and six steals.
Kylee Williams made five threes in the game as she also scored 17 points and they two seniors combined for 34 of the Cards 41 points.
Benton’s defense was the story all season and Saturday night it was fantastic again as they held MICDS to a season-low 34 points. The Rams were averaging 64 points per game and had been held under 40 just one time all year, and they needed 40 minutes to reach 34.
The Cardinals held MICDS to 31.6 percent (12-38) shooting and the Rams committed 19 turnovers.