Slowly but surely the Torrington girl’s basketball team pulled away from Alliance in a ball game played Tuesday in Alliance. Using a strong defense, the Blazers bested the Lady Bulldogs 54 to 35. Alliance fell to 2 and 3 for the year. The guests led 31 to 19 at halftime and control play in the second half. Alliance did get the win in the JV contest played earlier. The Dogs won the opener 31 to 21. Top scorer in the varsity affair was Hannah Benzel who tallied 8 points while Brooke Bailey ended with 7.
Three times the battle was tied in the first period. Early tallies by Bulldog Reese Armstrong and Addison Weber knotted the game at three in the early moments. An Armstrong basket made it 5 all later in the quarter. Down 11 to 5, the Dogs got points by Olivia Krejci and Bailey to slice their deficit to 2. The period closed with Alliance tying the game at 11 thanks to free throws by Bailey and Brinlee Lanik and a Trailblazer deuce. After one period of play, the visitors led 13 to 11.
Torrington took control in the second with 9 straight to surge ahead 22 to 11. At the 5 minute stage, Alliance received a basket by Benzel and then a Paz Cody score to get within 7. Four consecutive tallies by the Blazers ensued as the Dogs fell behind by 11 again. With 3 minutes left in the half, a Weber two kept AHS in striking range. Once again, the guests were up for the challenge as Torrington scored the game’s next 5 points to move ahead by 14. Period #2 closed with another score by Weber and the Dogs down 31 to 19.
Alliance would again score 8 points in a quarter but the Blazers finished with 13 tallies to increase their advantage. Bailey started the scoring the period with a 2 pointer. Following 3 points by Torrington, a Benzel basket had the board reading Blazers 34 Dogs 23. Momentum stayed on the side of the guests midway thru the period as the Blazers ran off 6 in a row to build a lead of 17. The teams then swapped scores to end the period with the Bulldogs getting points by Benzel and Maslin Breen. Heading to the fourth, AHS trailed 44 to 27.
A three by Cody and a free throw by Weber is how the final period began. The guests responded with 5 straight that made it a 49 to 31 ball game. Alliance’s final tallies came from free throws by Bailey and another 2 by Benzel. A Torrington three ended the scoring. Final Trailblazers 54 Bulldogs 35
TORR 13 18 13 10 54
ALL 11 8 8 8 35
Scoring for Alliance Weber 6 Bailey 7 Armstrong 4 Krejci 2 Lanik 1 Cody 5 Breen 2 Benzel 8
Alliance goes to Chadron on Friday and Sidney on Monday.