Kaitlyn Maddock (Photos by Noah Clooten)
MADDOCK — The Benson County Wildcats aren’t used to losing.
“I think the girls maybe forgot what this felt like a little bit,” head coach Bryan Kenner said.
The No. 1 Benson County girls’ basketball team was a game away from finishing the regular season undefeated. But a strong TGU team (14-5, 8-3, 8-2) upset them in a non-district matchup, 68-59 at Maddock Public School on Saturday. Ashley Martodam led the Titans with a whopping 34 points.
Benson County (18-1, 9-0, 6-0) still finished undefeated in region and district play. Two days earlier, the team squeaked out a 52-49 win over the defending champion, No. 8 May-Port-C-G.
“The end of the season and how we handled adversity was gonna be what defined our season,” Kenner said. “We played a really hard game on Thursday. And I’m not making excuses, but if there’s a definition of a trap game, I told somebody this was it. We’ve been so looking forward to May-Port; we fought really hard in that one. Had a good practice yesterday, but I could tell our legs were a little behind today.”
The Wildcats were also hindered by an injury to Ella Fossen, one of their key pieces on defense. Aubrey Kenner and Kaitlyn Maddock were tied for the team lead in points with 15, but Kenner didn’t have any field goals in the second half. Maddock and Addisyn Faul each had nine second-half points. Faul had 13 overall. Lacie Fautsch also reached double figures with 11 before fouling out at the end of the game.
Josie Bryn had 18 points and played a pesky defensive game for TGU.
“We should have made some adjustments that we probably didn’t make,” Kenner said. “But good teams come in here when you’re ranked No. 1, and they give you your best shot. Hats off to them. They did a really good job tonight. We’ll bounce back.”
Benson County also honored its lone senior, Haley Scevers, before the game. Not only did she earn a start — but she swished a three-pointer seconds before the final buzzer.
Her teammates on the bench were dejected. They knew they were about to lose. But they still stood up, cheered and raised their arms in triumph for Scevers.
“She doesn’t get a ton of minutes for us, but she has a good attitude and works hard,” Kenner said of Scevers. “She usually doesn’t have the green light on that shot. I said, ‘Today, you get one. I want you to take it.’ I was really glad at the end of the game to see her hit that… That’s a special moment. Really proud of my kids on the bench. They were pretty upset when I subbed them out at the end of that game, but they were really happy for her when she hit that shot.”
The Titans kept pace with the Wildcats from the beginning.
Martodam, the Titans’ star of the game, already had two fouls less than two and a half minutes into the game. Fautsch went 1-of-2 from the free throw line, and Maddock’s second basket gave Benson County a 7-4 lead.
Field goals from Martodam and Bryn swung the lead in TGU’s favor. In between, Kenner was unable to finish a drive. Fautsch tied it back up, but then she committed her second foul and TGU picked up the and-one to go ahead 12-9.
The large contingent of TGU fans who made the trip were roaring. They knew had a chance to do something special and upset the Class B team with the largest target on its back.
Kenner’s first two points were a pair of successful free throws. She started a 7-0 run for the Wildcats, as Faul put one in and Kenner swished a go-ahead three.
At the end of the first quarter, Benson County had a slim 18-16 lead.
The teams opened the second quarter by trading baskets up until 22-22, when Fautsch missed a layup and Martodam scored her third consecutive basket.
Fautsch converted her next layup to tie it. Down 26-24, the Wildcats jumped ahead on Kenner’s second three of the game. Martodam found the bucket again to give TGU a 28-27 lead, but Faul got her own put-back to flip the lead once again. Kenner made 1-of-2 free throws to make it 30-28. She went 3-of-4 from the line in the first half and had 11 points.
But the Titans didn’t go away in the final stretch of the half. Lily Lageson tied it back up, and Martodam hit back-to-back triples before the buzzer.
Martodam had 14 points in the second quarter to give her 19 at halftime. TGU led 36-32.
“We tried a couple different things to slow Martodam down, and she just kept getting looks,” Kenner said. “I think every time she made a big shot, we’d get a little frustrated. And then when we did contain her, they had a couple of their other players that made some really great shots. And it kind of takes the wind out of your sails.”
The Wildcats were still in it. But their troubles only went bad to worse in the third quarter. TGU started the period on a 5-0 run. It outscored Benson County 14-3 to open the second half, building a more sizable advantage the Wildcats could never overcome.
The gap was as wide as 50-35. Benson County scored seven straight to stay within striking distance — five of those points via free throws.
But the Wildcats still trailed by 10 at the end of the third quarter and never made it closer than an eight-point game. Not only did Martodam reach the 30s for TGU, and Bryn got nearly 20, but the Titans limited Benson County’s two biggest scorers. Kenner went only 2-of-4 from the free throw line in the second half with no additional baskets. Fautsch went 2-of-2 from the line with, again, no field goals. She fouled out with less than two minutes to go — but the game was already out of reach by that point.
Maddock and Faul each scored nine in the second half to finish with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Scevers’ three came with only seconds left, providing a moment of elation amidst a disgruntled Benson County bench.
The Region 2, District 4 Tournament will be held from Feb. 14-17 at Northwood High School. The Wildcats are hoping this game will merely be a small footnote in their ultimate quest for a state title.
“They’re gonna be fired up. Win or lose, I wanted to play hard games at the end of the season,” Kenner said. “It’s unfortunate we lost one, but it’s pretty hard to run the table. And if we’re gonna lose one game at the end of our season, this is the one to lose. Because if we win the rest of them, this one doesn’t matter one bit.”
