CHERAW, S.C. — There were two objectives for the Richmond Senior High School girls’ basketball team on Tuesday, and the Lady Raiders achieved them both.
On the road to close the season series against non-conference Cheraw High School, head coach Teddy Moseley said he wanted his team to win and show improvement in different areas of the game.
Winning wasn’t a problem as the Lady Raiders steamrolled the Lady Braves 51-4 behind a running clock for most of the game. Juniors Jakerra Covington and Jayla McDougald both finished with a game-high 10 points.
The blowout victory made it the second time this season the Lady Raiders (5-2) defeated Cheraw by at least 45 points. But more importantly for Moseley, it was a win that helped the Lady Raiders regroup after losing a conference game to Pinecrest High School on Friday.
“We wanted to work on rotation and defense tonight, that was the biggest thing,” the second-year head coach said. “Last year when we lost to Pinecrest, we went on to lose four in a row and that made a big difference in our season.
“I thought it was important that we stayed on the winning side after that tough loss to Pinecrest,” he added.
Richmond would set the tempo early, outscoring the Lady Braves 25-0 in the opening quarter. Seven different scorers would find the basket in the first frame, as freshman Kyla Sampson scored six points on two three-pointers.
Covington, McDougald and senior Jasmine Ewing all contributed four points in the stanza. Other scorers were Keionna Love, Jamiya Ratliff and Bree Wall who combined for seven points.
The Lady Raiders’ defense was also pivotal in the early going, seeing the green and gold run a press that resulted in numerous turnovers and transition points.
Eleven of Richmond’s 12 players scored against the Lady Braves, and junior forward Kelly Hoffman opened the second quarter with two of her four points. Trailing 29-0, Cheraw finally got on the board when Jamyiah Walls scored a free throw with 2:25 to go in the half.
Love hit a basket under the hoop with just over two minutes left in the second to put Richmond up by 30 points, which started the running clock for the rest of the game.
To close the second quarter, Wall made a drive, Covington converted on a halfcourt steal and Sampson followed suit with a steal and a layup of her own. That would cap Sampson’s scoring at eight points, as the Lady Raiders took a 37-1 lead into the locker room.
Cheraw’s final three points came from Shanice Bostick to start the third when she made a drive and added the and-one opportunity.
Richmond outscored the Lady Braves 14-3 in the second half to enter the holiday break three games above the .500 mark.
“We have to continue to get better,” Moseley explained. “We break our season down into four quarters (of six games each) and we finished the first quarter 4-2, and now we won the first game of the second quarter.
“It was a balanced effort tonight and that’s what I keep telling everybody,” he closed. “We have a good team with multiple weapons. The main thing is to keep getting better and we wanted to bounce back on the right side of things and we did that.”
The Lady Raiders will participate in the Anson High School Shootout Tournament and face Montgomery Central High School (2-4) in the opening round. That game is scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m.
