In a game that featured 13 lead changes and four ties, Harrisburg rallied in the second half and used a 14-0 run in the third and fourth quarter to comeback and beat Benton 42-37 in a key SIRR Ohio contest.
The win put Harrisburg one game up in the standings as the 'Dogs are are 6-1 in the conference race, while Benton falls to 7-2.
Harrisburg head coach Jake Stewart, whose team improved to 24-4 overall, credited his girls for their ability to fight back when down and protect the lead when they had it.
"I thought we had some bad trips where we didn't execute very well and then we got down," Stewart said. "We were down by five at halftime. I'm proud of the girls for fighting through everything that they did tonight. I didn't know we went on a 14-0 run. We had to make a move and we executed our offense. We got stops and we got rebounds and that was the most important thing about tonight."
Benton held a 27-21 lead early in the third quarter on a jumper by Selsey Tedeschi and from there, Benton endured a scoring drought that lasted nearly a quarter as Harrisburg tied the game at 27 on a Lauren McDaniel bucket and the senior give Harrisburg a three-point 30-27 lead going into the fourth quarter after she putback a missed Essence Sanders three pointer to close out the quarter.
After a 3-pointer by Summer Sanders and another McDaniel bucket, Harrisburg went up 35-27 early in the fourth quarter, before Benton ended the drought by a Addi Krueger 3-pointer almost two minutes into the fourth quarter.
Benton got as close as three points in the fourth at 40-37 with 35 seconds to play, but Harrisburg went 3-of-6 from the free throw line and finished 16-for-25 in the game.
"A war, that's what it always is. A war," is how Benton coach Andy Sloan described Thursday's game. "It's not always pretty but it's always two teams that compete their tails off and two teams that I think were prepared for each other. Hats off to them, they played a little better than we did down the stretch.
"They got up I think eight points there and we're not built to play from behind because of our lack of offensive firepower. They did a good job of that. I thought McDaniel kind of outplayed everyone there for a spurt and we can't let people play harder than us. That's one thing I was a little disappointed on. I thought she played harder than we did. I don't fault our effort. I thought our effort was good. We just didn't make the plays when we had to and they did."
McDaniel led all players with 14 points and was the only Harrisburg player to finish in double figures.
Lydia Miller netted nine points, while Summer and Essence Sanders each scored seven points. Stream Black, the only other starter for Harrisburg, had five points.
Benton put two players in double figures as Addisyn Miller had a team-high 12 points, including 10 in the first half, while Ensley Tedeschi tacked on 11 points.
Selsey Tedeschi finished with five points, while Mady Wallace flipped in four points. Krueger tossed in three points, while Zoe Carlton had two points.
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
