VINCENNES, Ind. — Coming off a long holiday break and long bus ride, the Three Rivers women's basketball team overcome a rough shooting performance with defense and rebounding Monday night.
The Raiders held Vincennes to a lower shooting percentage, blocking a season-high nine shots, in a 72-57 road win over the Trailblazers.
"I knew it would be tough offensively as a whole," Raiders coach Alex Wiggs said.
Ari Winston had a double-double and Joi Montgomery was a bucket shy of another as Three Rivers finished plus-14 on rebounds.
Myia Yelder scored 18 points, sinking both of the Raiders 3-pointers, to go with five assists. Winston and Jamiyah Thomas each scored 11 with Autumn Dodd chipping in nine points.
The Raiders (11-0) shot a season-low 2 for 25 from 3-point range and 34.7% from the field in all, but sank 18 of 19 free throws.
"That's what makes a good team great," Wiggs said.
Vincennes (5-4), which shot 31.5% from the field for the game, made just 8 of 30 shots in the first half to fall behind 30-18.
Three Rivers forced 19 turnovers as six different players had steals and seven players blocked at least one shot with a pair each by Winston and Yelder, who had three steals along with Dodd.
Vincennes didn't score until 3:10 after the opening tipoff and went the final 1:10 of the opening quarter without scoring. By the time the Trailblazers got a bucket at the 7:15 mark of the second quarter, Three Rivers was up 17-10.
"Defensively the girls did exactly what we asked them to," Wiggs said. "They communicated, they did a good job. …
"Defensively they were active, they were everywhere they needed to be."
Three Rivers, which won the previous meeting 82-67 on Nov. 12, led 13-10 after one quarter, scoring five straight after a 3-pointer by Cherrelle Newsom put Vincennes ahead.
Newsom scored a game-high 23 points hitting 7 of 14 shots from 3-point range.
Yelder's steal led to a pair of free throws for a 24-14 lead with 3:33 left in the half and the Raiders were up 14 on Montgomery's second-chance putback with 72 seconds before the break.
Three Rivers led by 19 in the third quarter when Newsom sank a trio of 3-pointers to make it a 10-point game with 1:15 left. Kourtney Kendrick hit a leaner as she was fouled for a three-point play to start a 10-0 run that ended early in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders travel to Moberly for three region games starting at 3 p.m. Friday against Crowder. After playing State Fair at 1 p.m. Saturday, Three Rivers faces Jefferson at the same time Sunday.
Story courtesy of the Daily American Republic