ROCKINGHAM — Looking to extend their Sandhills Athletic Conference winning streak to three games, the Lady Raider basketball team suffered a scoring lapse in the second half of Tuesday’s game.
Playing host to Seventy-First High School, Richmond would only have three players find the basket in a 37-30 loss to the Lady Falcons.
Senior point guard Keionna Love was responsible for 16 of Richmond’s points, while junior guard Jayla McDougald added 11 points in the loss. Fellow junior Jakerra Covington notched three points.
An 11-1 run by Seventy-First (10-4, 4-1 SAC) in the final 4:19 of the third quarter shifted the game’s momentum for good in favor of the visitors. The Lady Falcons outscored Richmond 23-15 in the second half.
Ayanna Williams scored 14 points for the Lady Falcons, putting 10 points up in the second half. Teammate Amore Kirkland chipped in 12 points.
“The first half saw both teams feeling each other out, and we got good looks,” head coach Teddy Moseley said.”But we just didn’t put it in the basket. Defensively, we played excellent for pretty much the entire game.
“Jayla played a tremendous game defensively, especially guarding No. 12 (Kirkland),” he added. “Jardai (Tillman) played well on defense, too. No. 22 (Williams) bullied her way to the basket a lot.”
Moseley noted the turning point in the game was when Seventy-First switched to a full-court man defense, which led to the Lady Raiders’ scoring problems in the final two quarters.
“We didn’t make good passes or cut to the ball hard enough when they put the full-court press on,” he explained. “It was a combination of both of those things.
“I don’t think it’s what Seventy-First did, it’s what we didn’t do,” Moseley added. “We handed that game to them.”
The Lady Raiders struggled shooting from the floor, but also went 9-for-21 from the free throw line (42.8 percent). Moseley said that rate has to improve, and is usually a strength of the Lady Raiders’ offense.
After the first period of play, both teams were tied at five, with Love scoring all five of Richmond’s points. McDougald got on the board in the second with five points, and using four more from Love and a free throw from Covington, the Lady Raiders took a 15-14 lead into the break.
Love extended the lead to four points at the start of the third with a hard drive and a made and-one opportunity in the first minute, but a McDougald triple and a free throw would be the only other points in the frame.
Adding to Williams’ six points in the third was Kirkland, who netted five points to give Seventy-First a 27-22 lead entering the fourth.
The two teams traded baskets early in the last stanza, seeing a McDougald three-point play pull the home team within one point, 31-30. But Seventy-First closed the final 4:39 by shutting out Richmond 6-0 to ice the conference win.
“Free throws and layups, that’s what we’re going to work on,” Moseley said. “The opportunities are there, but we just either throw it over the basket or rush our shots.
“It’s back to practice tomorrow and trying to work hard to get ready for Scotland,” he closed.
The Lady Raiders (10-5, 2-4 SAC) will look to rebound on the road Friday at rival Scotland High School (5-6, 2-2 SAC). Opening tip will get underway at 6 p.m. in Laurinburg.
