A determined effort by a scrappy and physical Mineral Area College Lady Cardinals women's basketball team brought the 23rd-ranked Three Rivers Lady Raiders' historic and school-best 57-game regular season win streak to a halt on Saturday in Neosho.

As part of the Region XVI Challenge, the Lady Raiders could not match Mineral Area runs with the same effectiveness, and the Lady Cardinals would use that to increase its edge little by little in small increments and suddenly found themselves 75-63 winners over the defending region champions from Poplar Bluff.

Sophomores Maiya Bergdorf (15 points) and Niasya Ervin (12 points) led the Lady Raiders.

"We didn't do a very good job on shooters: Their kids stepped up and hit some big shots," Three Rivers head coach Alex Wiggs said. "They hit 11 threes and we have to do a better job at executing scouting reports.

"They battled at the end and we tried to make it a little bit interesting, unfortunately, we can't wait til the fourth quarter or the last five minutes to have that effort. We have to battle for 40 minutes."

Wiggs said that although stats were not available, he believed his squad committed in and around 30 turnovers while giving up too many offensive rebounds by Mineral Area.

It was definitely a battle to wrap up the win as the Lady Cardinals faced relentless determination by Three Rivers who cut a 15-point deficit with just over two minutes left to 10 after a barrage over 50 seconds that made Mineral Area sweat a little more.

But there just wasn't enough time for the Lady Raiders and the streak was over.

"That streak had to come to an end and I hate to see it," Wiggs said. "This is a different team and they have to set their own identity and create one. I am proud of the last couple of years and all those players and teams that made that happen. It was a special run. The day has come and maybe we can start a new one.

"We lost the last one every year and if losing one this time of year means we finish the season on a win, I'll take it. This doesn't define us. We will get back to work and get ready to move forward."

The Lady Raiders trailed by nine points going into the final 10 minutes and then saw Mineral Area build the lead to 13 midway through the final quarter.

Three Rivers (6-1) kept the pressure up, but it didn't keep the Lady Cardinals from getting to the rim on multiple occasions and then balanced the attack with their outside game with a number of timely triples.

It started off as a game fitting of two rivals as they went toe-to-toe in the early moments and a string of three-pointers had the Lady Raiders up 10-9 after the first five minutes.

The Lady Cardinals kept Three Rivers from getting many if any interior looks through most of the first quarter and found the opposite true at their basket, scoring mostly from inside on second and third-chance opportunities to lead 16-15 after the first 10 minutes.

A couple of deep bombs and some feisty defensive pressure by the Lady Cardinals helped them push their advantage to 24-19 with 5:54 left in the first half and Wiggs called timeout.

More successful results from their defensive pressure help Three Rivers made the Lady Cardinals more uncomfortable and face some hairy moments, but they'd still hold the 31-27 halftime edge over the ladies from Poplar Bluff.

It was the first time Three Rivers had trailed at halftime all season.

The second half started with a run of play that went mostly uninterrupted and there were plenty of jousts for loose balls and trading of shots, but most of the momentum went the way of the Lady Cardinals who built a 49-41 lead with just under three minutes left in the third quarter.

Three Rivers trailed 54-45 going into the final quarter.

Three Rivers returns to the court 6 p.m. November 29 at home against Vincennes University whom the Lady Raiders beat last weekend.

Alan Dale - Daily American Republic