The game started in favor of Madison (27-1), which pushed its way to a 18-15 lead with 2:20 left in the first quarter, but the Eagles settled into their offense and opened a 17-1 run over the next four-plus minutes to put the Mohawks in a 13-point hole, the largest deficit of the season for Madison.
“This group of seniors is special,” Liberty-Benton coach Nate Irwin said. “They deserve everything they are experiencing right now.”
But the Mohawks weren’t ready to give up that easily.
Madison rallied behind seniors Lindsay Hoskins and Adrianne Lehman and junior Ally Malott to pull within four (38-34) at halftime. The first half also ended with a strong defensive stance by the Mohawks, who prevented the Eagles from scoring in the last 44 seconds of the half.
But the second half did not begin so well for Madison and Liberty-Benton was off to the races, outscoring the Mohawks 28-10 in the final two frames.
“It’s tough to win a game against a team like them when we’re 4-of-21 shooting in the second half,” Madison coach John Rossi Jr. said. “We were hoping to be a tough matchup inside for them, but when we got the point-blank ones, we just didn’t finish.”
Liberty-Benton, on the other hand, was tough taking the ball to the hoop. It scored 24 points inside the paint and finished 18-of-40 from the floor (45 percent) for the game.
“That’s the way we’ve played all year,” Irwin said. “We don’t have a dominant inside player, but we do a good job of getting to the rim.
“Madison did a good job guarding us on the perimeter,” he continued. “But that opened up the lane for us and we attacked the rim.”
Senior Amanda Hyde was the biggest contributor inside for the Eagles. She had a game-high 23 points with her last field goal coming on a 94-foot drive and layup with five seconds remaining in the third quarter to extend her team’s lead to 53-40.
Caite Craft had 19 points and Amber Peterson totaled 13 for Liberty-Benton.
Sophomore Brittany Shields led the Mohawks with 13 points. Malott added 10.
“We’re going to win with class and we’re going to lose with class,” Rossi said. “We’re losing two seniors that have meant a lot to our program, but we’ve got 15 kids that will be back.
“Once you get a bite of this, you want a bigger bite,” he continued. “We will be back.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2852 or sweaver@coxohio.com.
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