Benton's defense too much for Lady Jays

Greta Haarmann of the Jefferson City Lady Jays battles three St Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals for a loose ball during Saturday's title game in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Greta Haarmann of the Jefferson City Lady Jays battles three St Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals for a loose ball during Saturday's title game in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Fleming Fieldhouse.

There are two things you can count on at the end of the year.

One, you can't forget to pay your county taxes. Two, the St. Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals are going to play really good defense in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational.

"Benton is probably in the top two or three teams I've played in my coaching career when it comes to playing defense," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said Saturday night after the Lady Jays dropped a 35-21 decision to the Lady Cardinals in the Invitational championship game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"They are going to guard you hard, it's a point of emphasis with them. You can tell they've bought into that system and it really works for them."

It is what Conway had in his time coaching at St. James and is attempting to bring to Jefferson City.

"We are trying to create a system here and right now, we're inconsistent," he said. "We will do it for a game or two and then we'll go flat. We played very well (Friday night) against Hickman and then we didn't have that same intensity for this game."

The game was tight for much of the first half. The two teams swapped points in the first quarter, which ended with Benton holding a 9-8 lead.

A pair of free throws by Kara Daly of Jefferson City cut Benton's lead to 11-10 early in the second quarter. The Lady Cardinals then went on an 8-0 run during the next 5:23 to push their advantage to nine.

Jefferson City then scored the final four points of the half - two on free throws by Sarah Linthacum and a basket by Caitlin Anderson - and trailed 19-14 at intermission.

The score by Anderson was Jefferson City's lone basket in the second quarter. That was a harbinger of things to come.

The Lady Jays scored just two baskets in the third quarter as a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Benton's Bailey Russell gave the Lady Cardinals a 29-19 lead.

Jefferson City didn't score a basket in the fourth quarter, with its lone points coming on a pair of Anderson free throws in the final minute.

"I think we stopped competing in the third and fourth quarters," Conway said. "Matching the energy, the physical play of Benton, we didn't do that."

Jefferson City was just 3-of-27 from the field in the final three quarters.

"Our execution wasn't good, we didn't do a good job of screening, trying to get each other open and that's something we have to work on," Conway said.

"We're a young team, we're still learning to play together."

Mia Henderson, the Invitational MVP, had seven points and eight rebounds for Benton (11-0). Russell led Benton with 12 points, while Gabby Fuller added eight. Both Russell and Fuller were all-tournament selections.

Benton has won five Invitational titles in 13 appearances.

Anderson, an all-tournament selection, led Jefferson City with seven points.

Linthacum, also on the all-tournament team, led with seven rebounds.

"You have to put this one behind us, we have two months of basketball left," Conway said.

Jefferson City (6-5) is back in action Thursday at Sullivan.