Those witnessing the fast-paced, entertaining contest also saw Benton's Makala Abney score her 1,000 career point near the end of the third quarter.
Abney said she was "overwhelmed" with reaching the 1,000 point plateau in her junior season.
"I'm really happy that I got it here. It was one of my goals, but I have many more to accomplish," she said.
West Frankfort shocked the Rangerettes with a fast start. Morgan Griffith, who had 12 points in the opening quarter and finished with 32 points to lead all scorers, knocked down two three-point baskets and teammate Cali Wright drilled one too as the Lady Redbirds dashed out to a 20-7 first-quarter lead.
Adding insult to injury, Abney picked up her second foul near the end of the quarter and had to sit on the pines during most of the remainder of the first half.
Following another Wright three-ball to give Frankfort its largest lead of the night at 25-7, the Rangerettes went on a mini-run, outscoring Frankfort 8-0. Macie Cockrum's jumper in the lane cut the deficit to 25-15 at that point.
Still trailing 28-17 with about three minutes left in the half, Benton finished the quarter on a 13-1 run to take it first lead of the game, 30-29, at the break. Instrumental in the offensive onslaught were three 3-point baskets from Ally Gischer, Taylor Mosley and Haley Ing. Ing also had a key steal late in the half, resulting in an assist with a nice dish to Gischer who made an uncontested layup. Gischer led the Rangerettes, now 24-2, with 17 points.
"When we looked up at the scoreboard and we were down, we kind of chipped away," said Benton coach Andy Sloan. "That's one thing about this team, we may get down, but they don't get down on each other. They're continuing to pat each other on the back and that says a lot about the character in that locker room and on the bench."
Sloan said he was worried at halftime about whether his team would have enough energy in the second half to survive against the upset-minded opponent.
"We exerted so much energy to get back up one, and I didn't know what was going to happen in the second half."
What happened is Benton extended its lead early in the third quarter. Again, the three ball played a role in the offensive push with Mosley hitting a trey and Gischer adding two more during a 10-0 run to start the third period.
When Abney recorded her 1,000 point at the 1:51 mark of the quarter, the Rangerettes held a 48-37 lead and stretched it to 51-37 by quarter's end on another Mosley trey. The Rangerettes were 9-of-25 from outside the arc with Mosley accounting for five.
Mosley finished with 15 points and Abney 14.
Abney's career total somewhat overshadowed the one-woman offensive show put on by Griffith, who has had two 44 point games this season.
"Anytime you compete in the River to River on the road it's a tough situation but I was proud of our kids. We competed hard and we got a good game from all of our kids," said West Frankfort coach Matt Hampleman.
Hampleman said he knew Benton would make a run in the second half.
"They have the ability to score points. We don't have the mindset to pull the ball out and hold it and we don't have the typical point guard that we can run, as we have in the past, to hold the ball for long periods of time. We got tired in spurts to take up some of their size and when that happened, you could start seeing we were down leg-wise."
Benton defeated West Frankfort 58-32 earlier this season.
Rangerettes clip Redbirds, 63-50
Posted on 1/27/2016, 9:48 AM
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