NEOSHO, Mo. — The Three Rivers College women's basketball team was more than up to the task of winning a potential trap game Wednesday night against the Crowder Lady Roughriders.
The Lady Raiders held Crowder to just 40 points on the night and steadily increased their lead throughout the night to take a 73-40 win, their seventh victory in a row.
Three Rivers (22-4, 7-2 Region 16) also kept pace with Mineral Area in the region race as the Lady Cardinals downed Moberly 58-49 Wednesday night.
"It's one of those deals where we needed to make sure that we were locked in and that we were ready to go," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said after the game. "They could have made excuses ... but I thought the girls did a great job of responding to the challenge and being ready to play. They showed their maturity as a group of 13 freshmen and three sophomores."
The Lady Raiders led 17-8 after the opening period and extended their lead to 34-21 by halftime. TRC led 55-31 going to the fourth quarter.
"The first half, we were good defensively, but the baskets we gave up were pretty easy baskets...and stuff like that," Wiggs said. "But I felt like the second half was definitely a lot better. … But I'm really, really proud of the way that we guarded and communicated on the defensive end."
Kaleigh Thompson paced the Lady Raiders with 16 points, while Da'Kariya Jackson added 13 and Amiya Johnson finished with nine. Overall, 10 Lady Raiders broke into the scoring column.
"I thought we played very unselfish tonight," Wiggs said. "We moved the ball whenever it was our turn to attack the basket and be aggressive. I thought we did that and I thought we also shared the ball well."
Josey Adams led Crowder (7-20, 1-9) with 16 points, while Claire Affolter added 10.
Three Rivers is back in action Saturday evening when it hosts Moberly. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. at the Libla Family Sports Complex.
"Every game is important," Wiggs said. "We've got to make sure that we're locked in, that we're focused and we're prepared each and every game. Whichever team wins out controls their own destiny and gets to host the region tournament."
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic