NEW LONDON - The New London-Spicer girls basketball team had some trouble pulling away from Benson in a Section 6AA-South quarterfinals game on Thursday.
The winless Braves, who lost to NLS by 33 points in late January, battled back and forth with the 20-win Wildcats and the teams were tied at 23 late in the first half.
But the unflappable Wildcats gave all in attendance a good look at why they are the subsection’s top seed and the No. 5-ranked team in Class AA.
NLS outscored the Braves 13-3 to close out the half, then got the lead near 40 points in the second half before closing out the game 72-33.
The area’s all-time leading scorer, Taylor Thunstedt, played a solid inside-outside game and scored 25 points before taking a seat midway through the second half. She also had 6 steals.
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Eleven other Wildcats scored as head coach Mike Dreier was able to go deep into his bench relatively early.
Bri Fredrick hit a pair of 3-point shots and finished with 8 points. She also led the Wildcats with 6 rebounds and had 3 assists and 3 steals.
Ashlyn Geister finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds, and Olivia Setterberg also scored 6.
Benson’s Taylor Laumeyer scored 10 points and Hannah Ricard scored 8.
The Wildcats play Minnewaska in the subsection semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. John’s University.
NL-Spicer 72, Benson 33
Benson (0-26) 26 7 - 33
NLS (21-5) 36 36 - 72
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BENSON – 12-37 FG (4-12 3-pt); 5-8 FT; 16 rebounds; 9 fouls … Scoring: Megan Amundson 3, Taylor Laumeyer 10, Jessica Goff 3, Krista Motzko 7, Cyra Carlson 2, Hannah Ricard 8 … 3-point shots: Amundson 1, Laumeyer 2, Goff 1 … Rebound leaders: Laumeyer 4 … Assist leaders: Motzko 2 … Steal leaders: Laumeyer 2, JeanMarie Golden 2
NEW LONDON-SPICER – 29-59 FG (7-18 3-pt); 7-10 FT; 32 rebounds; 9 fouls … Scoring: Taylor Thunstedt 25, Alyssa Fredrick 5, Megan Thorson 3, Bri Fredrick 8, Petra Lothert 3, Ashlyn Geister 6, Kabrie Weber 2, Shea Oman 4, Olivia Setterberg 6, Nicole Monson 2, Lindsey Vagle 4, Morgan Swenson 4 … 3-point shots: Thunstedt 3, A. Fredrick 1, B. Fredrick 2, Lothert 1 … Rebound leaders: B. Fredrick 6, Geister 5, Weber 4, Tori King 4, Erin Tebben 4 … Assist leaders: A. Fredrick 3 … Steal leaders: Thunstedt 6, B. Fredrick 3, Weber 3
