The Lady Raiders are getting closer. After losing to Moberly Area by 25 points two weeks ago, Three Rivers pushed the undefeated and No. 7 ranked Lady Greyhounds all night before suffering a 76-63 loss Saturday at the Bess Activity Center. "In the locker room after the game I told them, 'We will beat them next time,'" Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. Bolstered by strong outside shooting, Moberly Area pulled away in the fourth quarter and led by as much as 17 points. The Lady Greyhounds, who are averaging five 3-pointers a game, fi nished 10 for 20 from beyond the arc, double their season shooting percentage from out there. "They hadn't shot 50 percent from 3 all year," Walk said. Carnethia Brown made three of them, including two in the first five minutes of the game, and led Moberly Area with 20 points, nearly three times what she is averaging. Brianna Henry, Sentreal Gregory and Angelia Wiggins each had two as the Greyhounds compensated for foul trouble by their center and leading scorer, Anisha George.

The outside storm started early and Three Rivers weathered the first round, but not the second. The Lady Raiders fell behind by 14 in the first quarter after a hot start by the Greyhounds. Moberly Area, led by Brown in the early going, sank three 3-pointers and added a three-point play in the first five minutes. In scoring triples, they quickly led by 10. Henry and Brown added 2s to make it 21-7. The Lady Raiders cut it to 10 at the end of the first quarter and were still down by that much with six minutes left in the first half when they started a run of their own. Markeia Porter anchored the Three Rivers burst on both sides of the ball. "She gave us that spark we needed," Walk said. "She does a lot of good things for us." Added Porter, "My main goal when I go into the game is to bring energy." Sydni Williams scored and Alex Kohler sank a 3 to cut the Greyhound lead in half. Then Porter drew a charge against George. It was her second foul and she went to the bench for the rest of the half. Porter then drove from the wing, absorbed some contact and banked in a basket through the foul. She swished the free throw to bring the Lady Raiders within two, then grabbed a defensive rebound before asking for a breather. "Dead tired. Dead tired," Porter said. "They always say if we play hard the max we should play is 2 1/2, 3 minutes. And I think my 3 minutes was up." DeNayia Holmes and Casey Douglas each made a free throw to tie the game at 30 with 90 seconds left in the half, and then Kahlia Murry scored through a foul, but missed the free throw, to put the Lady Raiders in front with a 12 point run. Brown tied the game at the line and Three Rivers went into halftime with momentum against a top 10 team. Moberly Area steadily extended the lead throughout the third and went into the fourth up by seven. After dealing with foul trouble for the better part of two quarters, George turned the tables early in the fourth quarter with a three-point play that also drew a fourth foul against Three Rivers' leading rebounder in Williams, who finished with six points and three rebounds. A few minutes later Taylor made a 3 to put the Greyhounds back in front by 10. Three Rivers' comeback took another hit when it went into the bonus with more than 6 minutes to play. Moberly Area, on the other hand, had committed one foul in the fourth quarter. The Greyhounds finished 18 for 26 at the foul line to Three Rivers' 15 for 21. Perry followed soon made 3, giving Moberly Area a 14 point lead, its largest up to that point, and Walk called a timeout, but the Lady Raiders didn't dent the deficit in the closing minutes. Kohler led Three Rivers with 15 points. Lakeita Chappel and Holmes each had 12. Holmes also had seven assists and drew six fouls to go 7 for 11 at the foul line.

Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic