LAURINBURG – On the road Friday night against perhaps its biggest rival, the Lady Raiders basketball team was able to jump out early over Scotland High School and never looked back, defeating the Lady Scots 54-43.
Richmond began the game with a 10-2 run, aided by steals on back-to-back possessions by Taliah Wall and Allexis Swinney. Keionna Love finished off the first quarter with a driving layup and encapsulated how much of the game would go – working hard low in the paint for shots. Solid Richmond defense and turnovers by Scotland helped end the first quarter with the Raiders up 13-4.
Thee second quarter started the same way with Swinney hitting Saleemah Brown down low to extend Richmond’s run to 12-2 until Scotland was able to hit a free throw at the 5:51 mark to end the drive. Lexyona Ingram continued her strong play with two jumpers in a two-minute span to push the Lady Raiders’ lead to 19-9. Although the Scots had better ball control in the second quarter, Richmond was still aggressive down low and led 24-17 at the half.
In a game of runs, once again the Raiders came out of halftime and went on a 9-2 run to open the third, with two quick shots from Brown and a bucket and foul from Ingram. Halfway through the third quarter, Richmond pushed their lead up to 16 points (35-19), its largest of the game. By continuing to stay aggressive on the boards, the Lady Raiders were up 38-29 at the end of the third.
In the fourth, Scotland (2-10, 1-5 SAC) hit back-to-back three pointers to cut the lead down to 44-39, only to watch Richmond score eight unanswered points over a two and a half minute span, including two Wall layups.
Swinney hit a couple of free throws down the stretch to seal the victory at 54-43.
Brown and Swinney led all Raiders with 12 points a piece, while Wall had 11 points and Ingram chipped in seven. Jakerra Covington provided another four points in a game that saw several Richmond players contribute.
The Raiders (4-7, 2-4 SAC) will continue conference play when they travel to Purnell Swett High School to face the Lady Rams at 6 p.m. on Friday.
