By Jim Muir
The host Nashville Hornettes moved to 2-0 with a 48-26 victory over the Benton Rangerettes in second night action from the Nashville Invitational Thanksgiving Tournament.
Nashville hit a 3-pointer to end the opening stanza and then hit a two-pointer to end the second frame and those five points were key on Benton coach Andy Sloan’s mind following the loss.
“I actually thought we played a pretty good first half but we gave up those two buckets and five points,” Sloan said. “We were down nine at the half and if take away those two baskets it’s a four-point game.”
Nashville led 16-6 at the end of one and the Rangerettes outscored the Hornettes 11-10 in quarter two to trail 26-17 at the intermission.
A big third quarter by the Hornettes put the game on ice for the Hornettes. Nashville outscored Benton 12-4 to take a commanding 38-21 lead into the final quarter.
Sloan, who is in a rebuilding year with the loss of four starters to graduation, noted that the past success of the Benton girl’s program has been built on a hardnosed defense. He was not pleased with the overall effort of his team on Tuesday night.
“Our defensive effort was not very good at all tonight and that has to get better and improve,” said Sloan. “As a team, especially a young team, our goal is to get better every night. Tonight we took a step in the wrong direction.”
Madyson Wallace led the Rangerettes with 10 points followed by Eb Casey with six, Addyson Miller and Kelsey Wilcox chipped in three points each and Sesley Tedeschi and Katy Johnson each scored two points.
The loss dropped the Rangerettes to 0-2 on the young season. Benton will face Trenton-Wesclin at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. If Benton wins the Saturday afternoon matchup they will come back and play at 5:30 p.m. that day. A loss in the game would put the Rangerettes playing at 3:30 p.m.
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