By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Bennington girl’s basketball team handled their business in their final home game of the season on Thursday, defeating Wichita Classical 49-36 in the sub-state semifinal to earn a spot in this year’s sub-state championship game.
It wasn’t always pretty, but when it mattered most the Lady Bulldogs locked down the Saints defensively, suffocating them for more than half of this game.
The first quarter was competitive, with Classical matching Bennington shot for shot to trail by just two.
In the second however, the well went dry, and the Lady Saints failed to score their first field goal until the 4:00 mark of the quarter, trailing by eight at the intermission.
Bennington picked up right where they left off in the second half, and immediately opened the third quarter on a big run to take their biggest lead of the game (14), but the Lady Saints rallied, forcing a slew of Bulldog turnovers and knocking down shots to cut that lead down to five at the end of the third.
Just as it did in the second quarter, the lid found itself back on the basket for Classical down the stretch, as they mustered a measly three points in the fourth quarter allowing Bennington to pull away for the 49-36 win.
Turnovers played a big role in this game for both teams, with the Lady Saints surrendering the ball 21 times, and Bennington coughing it up 14 times.
Classical was led in scoring by Nevi Wilkey (12) and Maggie Niell (11), and Addison Yost (9), but got just four points from the rest of their team.
As she had all season, Rori Miles anchored the Bennington effort with a 20-point performance, backed up by a solid 12-point night from Khloe Dossett that included three huge three-pointers.
For the Lady Saints the season draws to a close at 12-10.
Bennington (19-3) will advance to the sub-state championship in Moundridge where they will battle the 3-seed in Inman (18-3) on Saturday.