By Jim Muir

BENTON — It was clearly a tale of two halves for the Benton Rangerettes on Tuesday night.

In the home-opener and the kick off to the SIRR Ohio Division the Rangerettes trailed by 13 points at halftime and by as many as 15 early in the third quarter before putting together a furious second half rally to defeat Herrin 54-46.

“For as bad as we played in the first half I thought we really played well in the second half,” said Coach Andy Sloan. “We picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and created some much-needed offense from our defense. It was a great comeback.”

And the longtime and successful Benton girl’s coach was not exaggerating when he pointed out that his team got the offense rolling in the final two quarters. The Rangerettes managed only 13 first half points and trailed 27-13 at halftime. Whatever the halftime talk consisted of must have hit home as the Rangerettes exploded for 41 second half points. Benton outscored Herrin 21-12 in the third frame to cut the Herrin lead to 39-34 heading to the fourth quarter. The Rangerettes turned up the heat some more in the fourth quarter outscoring the Lady Tigers 20-7 to pick up an important Ohio Division victory. Overall, the Rangerettes trailed by 15 in the first minute of the second half and won by eight – a 23-point swing in only 15 minutes of basketball.

While Sloan had praise for the second half effort he pointed out that his team has developed a pattern of starting slow, something he hopes to correct.

“We have to find a way to get off to a better start in games,” Sloan said. “But I have to say that this team does not have any quit in them at all.”

Only one week into the season, Sloan said his young team is getting better.  “We’re a work in progress,” Sloan said. “But, we’re going to figure it out.”

Senior Eb Casey led the Rangerettes in scoring with 17 – 14 coming in the second half. Casey hit five 3-pointers in the contest. Also in double figures was Madyson Wallace with 11 points – 10 in the decisive second half. Freshman Addisyn Miller also hit double figures with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Rounding out the scoring Zoe Carlton added eight points, Ember Milby chipped in six points and Katy Johnson had two points. Madison Russell led Herrin with 16 points followed by Kristen Wade with 11.

The victory improved Benton to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in Ohio Division play. The Rangerettes are back in action on Monday, December 4 when they host Hamilton County in a non-conference matchup.

By Jim Muir

The Benton Rangers let a seven point halftime lead get away and Anna-Jonesboro rallied down the stretch to pull out a hard fought 67-65 overtime victory in opening night action at the Goreville Invitational Tournament.

The Rangers jumped out to an 18-14 first quarter lead and outscored the Wildcats 17-14 in the second stanza to go up 35-28 at the intermission.

Benton Coach Ron Winemiller said he felt the two factors in the loss was a lack of rebounding and a lack of toughness on his team.

“I think one key was that we couldn’t get a defensive rebound early in the game,” said Winemiller. “I thought they (A-J) was tougher than us, particularly early in the game. I think we got better as the game went along.”

A decisive third quarter played huge in the game as the Wildcats outscored the Rangers 22-13 to erase a seven point deficit and take a two-point lead, 50-48, heading into the final quarter. The Rangers outscored A-J 11-9 in the fourth quarter knotting the game at 59-59 at the end of regulation.

Zach Parr, who scorched the nets for 33 points and game scoring honors, scored 15 in the decisive third frame. Parr also scored seven of A-J’s eight points in overtime including the game winner that sealed the victory. McGrath added 11 for the Wildcats, the only other A-J player in double figures.

The Rangers had balanced scoring with three players in double figures, led by Parker Williams with 19, Gehrig Wynn added 16 and Hamilton Page adding 11. Sophomore Carson Lewis added 8 in his first varsity action and Joey Craig and Brett Bonenberger added two each to round out the scoring.

“You never know how a player will react when they make the jump to varsity, but I though Carson (Lewis) played well for his first game.”

Heading into the start of a new season, Winemiller said his biggest concern is a lack of depth and varsity experience.

“I think we could see a lot of games just like this one where it comes down to one possession,” he said.

The Rangers will have very little time to lick their wounds as they head back to the hardcourt on Tuesday night to take on Hardin County in a 5:30 p.m. matchup. All five teams will take Wednesday and Thursday night off before the tournament resumes on Friday with three games and then six games on Saturday.

The Rangers play Hamilton County at 7 p.m. on Friday, Johnston City at 10 a.m. Saturday and then close out the tournament against the host Goreville Blackcats at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.