MT. CARMEL, Ill. — Despite a dreadful freethrow percentage, the Lady Raiders still had a chance to win late. Three Rivers was down as much as 14 before a late run cut Wabash Valley's lead to three. With the clock winding down, the Lady Raiders got the ball to last season's leading scorer Michael Everhart, who missed a 3 at the buzzer as Three Rivers lost to Wabash Valley 70-67 Friday night. "It was an end-of-theseason type ballgame in November," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "Overall, we played a good ball game. We make free throws, we win by 7-8 points." The Lady Raiders were 15 for 28 (53.6 percent) from the foul line while Wabash Valley (2-0) was 26 for 32 (81.3 percent). Only Kaylee Heggemann, who was 1 for 1 and finished with seven points, six rebounds and four steals, made all her free throws for Three Rivers (1-1). In its season-opener against Lindenwood-Belleville JV, Three Rivers shot 71 percent on free throws. Had it matched that performance, the Lady Raiders would have won by two. On the other side of the coin, if Wabash Valley had matched its free-throw percentage from its first game (68 percent), it would have lost by two. Shala Dobbins did most of Wabash Valley's damage. The quick guard consistently drove to the basket early on. Her aggressive layups got Three Rivers' bigs in foul trouble and led to her hitting 13 of 14 free throws for a team high 25 points. "It took us about a quarter to figure out how to guard her," Walk said. "Defensively, I think we did what we needed to do in every aspect of the entire game."

The Lady Raiders first tried to deny Dobbins the ball as much as possible, then once she did catch it, backed off to stay between her and the basket. Dobbins shot under 33 percent, missed both her 3s, and the Lady Warriors shot 36 percent from the floor, 3 percent worse than Three Rivers. DeNayia Holmes and Ge'Naisha Robinson led Three Rivers in scoring with 13 points each. Holmes also had four assists and Robinson grabbed two each in assists, steals and rebounds. Jay Perry was 2 for 2 on 3-pointers and added 11 points off the bench, plus three assists and three steals for the Lady Raiders. Jalisa Smith also had one of her better games as a Lady Raider. She grabbed eight rebounds and was a pointy shy of her Three Rivers scoring record of 10. "We gave ourselves a chance to win," Walk said. "It was about one of the best games this group of kids has ever played." Three Rivers led by as much as four points in the early going, then trailed by single digits for awhile and eventually forced a lead change on Joya Smith's jumper. A few more lead changes followed before Wabash Valley pulled away for its 14-point lead. "They are pretty good," Walk said. "We had chances to win." Three Rivers was also out-rebounded by 10 and committed three more turnovers. Their number of assists dropped from 23 in the season opener to 13. Walk said the team, which will host Wabash Valley at 7 p.m. Friday at the Bess Activity Center, was upbeat after the loss considering just a few adjustments, a few more calls their way or just a reversion to the mean at the charity stripe, would have meant a win.