For the second year in a row, the Newton girls basketball team won a close Regional Quarterfinal Playoff Game at home, defeating Bondurant-Farrar on Wednesday night 56-47 in a game heard live on the KRLS3 stream. Last season, the Cardinals beat Boone 41-37.

Against the Bluejays, Newton built a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter into a 31-21 halftime advantage. Bondurant-Farrar had the first seven points of the third quarter, before the Cardinals built the lead back up to five points at the end of the quarter 38-33. In the fourth quarter, Newton’s lead would shrink to one-point twice, but the Bluejays never overtook the Cardinals. Three sophomores led Newton in scoring as Addyson Cibula and Sophia Coady both contributed 16 points and Camryn Klein had 15. Cardinals head coach Jake Bennett says those players stepped up in their first playoff game last season in a very similar situation. 

“When last year’s seniors got into foul trouble, they had to come in and step into pressure situations like this too. So it was really cool to have them get used to that and know what was going to happen and be comfortable in that situation and make big plays.”

The Newton girls basketball team is now 12-10 and will play at 21-1 Carlisle in the Regional Semifinal at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.