POPLAR BLUFF – The No. 1 Three Rivers women's basketball team hosted another nationally ranked team at the Libla Family Sports Complex on Wednesday and came away still undefeated as they handed No. 11 Moberly Area a 71-62 setback.
"I thought the girls did a good job of continuing to play through it," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said. "There were a lot of runs in the game, we out scored them in the first and they outscored us in the second and in the second half, I felt like we did a better job of keeping their runs down. Overall, I'm proud of their effort (Wednesday)."
The Raiders had four in double figures led by Myia Yelder with 21 points while Autumn Dodd had 12, Ari Winston was just a rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds and Joi Montgomery ended her evening with 10 points.
"Offensively, I felt like we were very passive in the first half," Wiggs said. "We like to pass the ball, but I thought we weren't taking the shots that we usually take in the first half and we started taking those shots in the second half."
Three Rivers (23-0, 11-0 XVI) got off to a good start with a 10-3 run in the first 4:30 of the game and they were still in the driver's seat with a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
However, Moberly (20-4, 9-3 XVI) went on a 9-0 run in the first three minutes to tie it up at 19 and eventually took the lead. Both teams were able to keep up with each other ultimately ending the half with Aniya Melton tying it up at 28 and Moberly unable to get a shot to go down in the closing seconds.
At the midway point of the third, the Raiders had a one-possession lead, 39-36 and they were able to get on an 8-0 run to go up 47-36 with less than two minutes to play in the period. Three Rivers held onto a 10-point advantage at the end of the third quarter with the score 49-39.
Moberly once again got to within three of the lead as the Raiders were up 56-53 in the fourth, but Three Rivers was able to get on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 63-53 with three minutes remaining. From there, the Raiders were able to hold off the Greyhounds for the win.
Three Rivers will be hitting the road on Saturday as they'll be taking on State Fair at 5:30 p.m. as part of a women's and men's doubleheader.
