Calera girls rolled to an opening night win but the host Bulldogs needed overtime to turn back Bennington for the Bryan County basketball sweep last week.
The Lady Bulldogs raced to a double-digit first quarter edge and continued to pull away from there for a 70-36 victory.
In the nightcap, it was an individual scoring shootout between Calera’s Logan Bumgarner and Bennington’s Marc Ramirez with the Bulldogs pulling out the 68-65 triumph.
Girls
It was all Calera in the opening stanza as senior Amariah McLaughlin pumped in 11 points to fuel a 21-7 scoring blitz. Bennington answered a bit in period two, even outscoring the hosts by a 14-12 count to narrow the advantage for 33-21 at intermission.
The third quarter proved to be completely decisive on both ends of the floor in a massive 25-1 scoring edge for the Lady Bulldogs.
Ten Calera players tallied points with McLaughlin pacing three in double figures with 16 for the game. Taylynn Conder returned well from last year’s season-ending injury with 15 points as Emma Daniel tossed in 12 as well.
Taibree Melton contributed nine points, Carlaysia Brown scored seven, Tarynn Niblett had three while Jadelyn Pierce, Chloe Owings, Tatum Buck and Savannah Mallard all posted two.
Sierra Reynolds spurred the Bennington offensive charge with 20 points, including 12 in the final quarter.
Michelle Minyard scored eight, Kendallynn Campbell added seven and Sofia Campbell rounded out the total with one point.
Boys
Bumgarner poured in a career-best 37 points and Ramirez countered with 43 in a wild individual score fest.
Each team notched 12 points in an even first quarter and Ramirez tossed in 13 points himself in the second to give the Bears a 27-25 edge at intermission.
Bumgarner answered right back in the third, hitting three treys on the way to 12 points, as Calera forged a 21-16 advantage in the quarter to take a three-point cushion.
Bennington hung tough to outscore the Bulldogs, 17-14, in the fourth with Ramirez pouring in another 10 points to force the extra frame knotted at 60.
Ramirez tallied all five Bear points in overtime but Calera notched eight, including four for five at the charity stripe to help ice the win.
Overall, the Bulldogs sank 15 of 24 free throw tries while Bennington connected on only nine of 23.
Bumgarner drilled five three pointers on the way to his 37 points. Calera also got 15 from Zaiden Craige along with six by Eason Humphers. Gavin Chaffin and Xavier Mallard had three each with Talon Rose chipping in two.
For Bennington, Ramirez canned seven treys to help record his impressive total. Lyter Hazen pitched in seven points, Jaxon Pierce had six, Kolt Mendenhall scored four, Dillon Grote added three and Jakob Munholland ended with two.