Rangerettes move to 2-0 heading into weekend play at Marion Lady Wildcats Invitational

By Jim Muir

The Benton Rangerettes defeated the Herrin Lady Tigers 48-43 in Thursday night action at the Marion Lady Wildcats Invitational.

The hard fought victory moved the Rangerettes to 2-0 on the season and also leaves Benton as the only team in the five-team, round-robin tournament without a loss heading into weekend play.

“It was a tough, hard fought victory,” said first-year coach Andy Sloan. “It wasn’t always pretty and we still need to do a much better job taking care of the basketball but we played hard and competed. Herrin is a well-coached team so it is a nice win for us.”

The Rangerettes jumped out to a 9-8 first quarter lead only to see Herrin go on an 11-3 run to open up a 19-12 lead with five minutes remaining in the second stanza. Keyed by six points from senior Morgan Corn the Rangerettes went on 12-3 run to end the quarter and take a 24-22 halftime lead.

“I thought we closed the second quarter strong and I also thought we had more energy in the second half,” said Sloan. “It was a very physical game.”

With the victory Benton is 2-0 and Herrin drops to 1-1 heading into games on Friday and Saturday. Benton will face Carterville (1-2) tonight at 6 p.m. while Herrin will meet Marion (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Vienna has a bye on Friday and will meet Herrin at 11 a.m and Benton will face Marion in the tournament finale at 12:30 on Saturday.

Corn led the Rangers with 17 points followed by Makala Carney with 13. Rounding out the Benton scoring was Rowdee Sanders with six, Evelyn Mendez with five, Cali Carney with four and Katie Sandusky and Marcela Mendez with two each. Sami Minor played but did not score. Leading Herrin was Gabby Woodis and Tori Johnson with 13 each and also in double figures was Abby Horn with 12.

In the early game on Thursday Vienna, led by 26 points from Carley Childress, defeated Carterville 53-41.

Benton 9 15 14 11 — 49

Herrin 8 14 13 19 — 44

BENTON (49): E. Mendez 1 2-2 5, M. Carney 5 3-4 13, M. Mendez 0 2-4 2, Sandusky 1 0-0 2, Sanders 1 4-6 6, Corn 4 9-11 17, C. Carney 2 0-2 4,. Totals: 14 20-29 49.

HERRIN (44): Horn 5 0-0 12, W. Woodis 1 1-1 3, Johnson 4 5-8 13, G. Woodis 5 0-0 13, Hunter 1 0-1 2, Yates 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 9-12 44.