No. 1 Benton goes down hard

DES MOINES -- Laurie Donald offered no would-haves, no could-haves.

No excuses.

"We felt like we were ready, but we just didn't play like it," Donald said after top-ranked Benton Community fell hard against Ballard, 50-34, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at the girls' state basketball tournament Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Ballard (19-6) will face No. 4 Davenport Assumption in a semifinal at 7:45 Thursday night. Assumption (23-2) defeated No. 5 Glenwood, 54-41, Tuesday.

It is Ballard's seventh straight appearance in the 3A semifinals.

"We're proud of the program we have," said Ballard's Katie Ahrenholtz. "Nobody thought we were going to get back to state."

Benton closed at 24-1. The Bobcats were without the services of leading scorer Madison Weekly, who suffered a broken left wrist in a regional-final win over Keokuk. She dressed and went through warmups Tuesday, then took a seat next to Donald during the game and watched.

It couldn't have been a pleasant view.

Benton didn't score until Kelsey Brecht's basket 5:10 into the game, and trailed 10-2 after a first quarter in which it shot 1-for-10 and committed five turnovers.

The Bobcats got within 10-7, then a 3-pointer by Becca Bridgewater made it 18-14.

But Makenzie Ihle answered with a trey at the horn to put Ballard up 21-14 at the half.

"That shot was a huge momentum-changer," Donald said. "We finally started getting some shots, then we gave one up at the end of the half.

"It was kind of the nail in the coffin."

Ballard opened the second half with a 10-3 run to push the margin to 14. And though Brecht scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, the mountain was too high for the Bobcats to climb without their leader.

Brecht finished with 14 points. Sara Petrzelka added seven for Benton.

Rachel Sage led Ballard with 12 points. Ahrenholtz scored 10, Ihle nine.

Obviously, Weekly's absence allowed Ballard to change its game plan.

"We were able to run some more zone (defense)," said first-year coach Kelly Anderson. "This is probably the best defensive game we've had all year."

BALLARD 50, BENTON COMMUNITY 34

At Des Moines

BALLARD (50): Rachel Sage 3-4 6-6 12, Grace Hall 3-3 0-0 6, Abby McGee 0-2 3-4 3, Emily Larkin 0-4 7-8 7, Katie Ahrenholtz 4-9 2-5 10, Annie Stolte 1-1 1-2 3, Makenzie Ihle 4-8 0-2 9, Alanna Dubberke 0-0 0-0 0, Chandler Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-31 19-27 50.

BENTON COMMUNITY (34): Ashley Mills 1-4 1-3 5, Becca Bridgewater 2-11 0-0 5, Beth Thompson 0-3 0-0 0, Kelsey Brecht 6-10 2-2 14, Sara Petrzelka 3-9 1-2 7, Jordyn Brunssen 2-6 0-0 5, Katrina Sindt 0-0 0-0 0, Jenna Roe 0-0 0-0 0, Alicia Gage 0-0 0-0 0, Mikayla Larsen 0-2 0-2 0, Ellie Embray 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 4-9 34.

Halftime: Ballard 21, Benton 14.

3-point goals: Ballard 1-7 (Sage 0-1, Larkin 0-2, Ihle 1-4), Benton 2-12 (Bridgewater 1-8, Thompson 0-1, Brunssen 1-3).

Team fouls: Ballard 10, Benton 19.

Fouled out: Mills.

Rebounds: Ballard 28 (Hall 7), Benton 27 (Mills, Brunssen, Larsen 5).

Assists: Ballard 10 (Sage 5), Benton 11 (Mills, Thompson 3).

Steals: Ballard 13 (Sage, McGee 3), Benton 8 (Brecht 3).

 Turnovers: Ballard 18, Benton 18.