By Chris Parker
The Logan-Rogersville girls quest for the program’s first state championship game appearance came up one game short in a 58-44 state semifinal loss to Benton on Friday night at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
Benton built a lead as big as 13, 29-16 midway through the second quarter largely thanks to a 10-3 advantage in offensive rebounds and 5-0 advantage in made three-pointers.
Logan-Rogersville posted a better first-half field goal percentage (42% to 39%) than Benton, but the Cardinals were 5-for-11 from three to 0-for-5 for Logan-Rogersville and attempted 14 more field goals (33 to 19) thanks to those extra possessions provided by the offensive rebounds and eight steals.
Benton led 33-22 at the break.
In the third quarter, Benton got its lead all the way out to 18, 44-26, with 2:44 left in the quarter on the way to a 44-28 lead going into the fourth quarter. The two teams played almost even in the fourth quarter as Benton won 58-44.
Logan-Rogersville shot 35% from the field in the game and went 2-for-12 from three. Benton finished with 16 more field goal attempts than the Lady Wildcats with the Benton bench outscoring the Logan-Rogersville bench 20-2.
Hailey Buckman led all scorers with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Logan-Rogersville (25-6) faces MICDS (23-7) in the Class 4 third place game at 2 pm on Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
