Basketball Recap: Bennington Comes Up Short

Bennington was the 65-61 winner over Scottsbluff when they last played one another back in December of 2022, but their luck changed this time around. The Bennington Badgers were just a bucket shy of victory on Friday and fell 63-62 to the Scottsbluff Bearcats. While the Badgers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Bearcats 21-15 in the first quarter.

Despite the defeat, Bennington had strong showings from Austin Kaiser, who went 7 for 15 on his way to 23 points in addition to six assists and five boards, and Gavin Olson, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 18 rebounds. Olson is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jace Fitzgerald, who posted 11 points and five rebounds.

Badgers

Offensive Rebounds

01/10/25 vs Scottsbluff	14
12/19/23 vs Beatrice	14
12/01/23 vs Crete	11
01/11/24 vs Waverly	11
02/02/24 @ South Sioux City	10

Even though they lost, Bennington smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've posted since back in January of 2024.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Scottsbluff to victory, but perhaps none more so than Nate Kelley, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Rylee Meininger, who went 6 of 8 on his way to 16 points and three steals.

Bennington's record is now 5-5. As for Scottsbluff, they pushed their record up to 11-1 with the win, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season.

Bennington didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 90-44 victory against Gering on the 11th. As for Scottsbluff, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 61-51 loss against Crete on the 11th.