By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Ell-Saline and Bennington girl’s basketball teams will meet for the second time this season on Tuesday night for a rematch of a six-point Cardinals victory in early December.
The Lady Bulldogs controlled the tempo early in that game but Ell-Saline put together a gutsy come-from-behind effort in the second half to collect the fourth of seven straight victories to begin their season.
“We let it slip away and those last two quarters cost us the game,” Bennington head coach Tracy Piepho said. “We must be mentally stronger in tight games and have fewer turnovers against their press.”
Both teams have done a lot of growing in the new year, with Bennington coming into this contest at 10-7 and Ell-Saline entering at 11-5.
“We are making the extra pass more often and helping better on defense,” Cardinals head coach Bill Gies said. “We are able to recognize which offense we need to use to counter defensive adjustments.”
Ell-Saline will have to contend with those adjustments against a Bulldog defense that has held half of their opponents to under 40 points this year.
The Bennington offense has come along as well, with a pair of 57-point performances in their last four games. That feat has been made all the more impressive by the number of different lineups the Bulldogs have fielded as a result of injuries and illness.
“We are becoming more mentally tough as different players are stepping up to contribute,” Piepho said. “I believe we are lacking team chemistry but we’re getting healthy at the right time and with these last four games, I hope we can build some momentum heading into the postseason. There's no quit in these girls.”
On the Ell-Saline side of things, the Lady Cards have run a gauntlet recently falling in four of their last five games but remaining ranked in the top ten in Class 2A.
Ell-Saline could use a big win over a rival area school to put some pep back in their step ahead of the sub-state tournament.
“We have to block out on the defensive end tonight,” Gies said. “We also have to make the shots when they present themselves.”
For Bennington, the keys to the game tonight are threefold, and each is just as important as the last.
“We have to handle the full-court press and prevent momentum tonight,” Piepho said. “We need to score 50+ points and we must defend the three-point line to prevent them from getting added momentum if we can break their press.”
Tip-off between the Lady Bulldogs and Cardinals is set for 6 pm at Bennington High School with the boys game to follow at 7.