Cardinals claim first Savannah Invitational title in three decades
Dec. 3—Out in Savannah, Missouri, the 94th annual Savannah Invitational girls championship took place between the Benton Cardinals and the Pembroke Hill Raiders.
The last time the Cardinals won this tournament was back in 1991, but they can now etch their spot as 2022 championships, defeating the Raiders 67-58 and keeping their undefeated season alive.
"We told our girls, obviously, you come to every game wanting to win, but the idea was we want to win two of them," head coach Chris Michaels said. "The third one's icing on the cake because like, let's face it, we didn't win this last year and we ended up in final Four. We didn't win it the year before that, and we ended up in the Final Four. We don't take a loss or a bad game and go, well, that's it."
The first quarter saw the Cardinals come fast out of the gate. Benton was able to attack the paint down low while getting points in transition. Pembroke kept its head above water by tallying points from beyond the arc, but trailed 23-11 after one quarter.
"This is what we told our girls, like no matter what the results of their games before was, what we noticed very quickly watching them on film and watching them live was how energetic the coaching staff and bench was," Michaels said. "We started to warn our girls, you may think you're going to come win a game, but I can tell you they're never going to go away."
The Raiders, led by point guard Holly Woods, found their rhythm, continuously hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer to pull as close as six points. The Cardinal defenders were facing multiple screens in a possession, leaving open shooters.
"Our defense has to get way better, we don't give up 55 points. It's not a thing that we do," Michaels said. "We play Savannah on Monday, and so it's a quick turn around and and we'll get a lot of practice this weekend and work a little bit."
The Cardinals entered the locker room with a 36-26 lead, and a quiet Kelsey Johnson awoke in the second half for Benton. Nine of her 11 points came in the third and fourth quarter, and she showcased why she'll be on a Division II court next year.
"Anytime that you have someone like K.J. on the floor, obviously a college basketball player signee going to Missouri Western, she didn't go to Missouri Western because she's six foot tall. She went to Missouri West because she's athletic and gifted," Michaels said. "She struggled a little bit this tournament ... and we felt like tonight, actually, a couple of our girls that have been having good games didn't have the best game, so K.J. picked us up tonight."
Once again, the Raiders wouldn't shy away from the spotlight, finding continuous success from the 3-point line. They would close the gap to 50-44 at the end of the third, but the fourth quarter wasn't enough to get the upset.
"That's a really good team and they're just going to get better, and better, and better, and they're really young. Luckily, we get a chance to play them now and then turn around and play them for our last game of the regular season," Michaels said. "So it'll be a very good test for us to see how much did we actually grow compared to how much they're going to grow, because they're going to grow."
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
