LAURINBURG — Suffocating defense that led to easy transition baskets, coupled with Jayla McDougald tying her career high in points, fueled the Lady Raiders’ win on Friday.
Bouncing back after a tough loss on Tuesday, the Richmond girls’ basketball team rolled past rival Scotland High School 59-36 in the regular-season finale.
With the victory, the Lady Raiders secured a fourth-place finish in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings.
McDougald netted 25 points, matching her best career performance which came against Lumberton High School a year ago to the day. She added five rebounds and five steals.
“It felt good to beat Scotland on their senior night, but we also know what it feels like to lose,” McDougald said. “We knew they were going to be really hyped because it was senior night, so we came in with the same energy and did what we had to do.
“I really wasn’t hitting the three tonight, so I played defense and tried to get steals,” she added of her performance. “That led to me driving the ball a lot and it worked out.”
The Lady Raiders controlled the game from the opening whistle and created 16 steal opportunities against the Lady Scots. That led to a lot of fastbreak points in both halves, which head coach Teddy Moseley credited junior Allyiah Swiney for being the point of the attack.
“I told Allyiah that she needed to have a breakout game defensively,” Moseley said. “We need the confidence going into the conference tournament and this was a win we needed. Allyiah answered the call and played great defense.
“Our scoring started with her tonight,” he added. “Our points are going to have to come off turnovers, and once we got in transition, we were able to score.”
Moseley said the Lady Raiders played a mixture of 3-2 zone and man defense, trying to switch things up and pressure Scotland’s shooters to take contested shots.
A 21-point first quarter helped the Lady Raiders jump ahead by 15 points by the end of the frame. Richmond began the game on a 7-0 run and impressed with a 14-2 spurt in the remaining 3:10 seconds.
McDougald scored her first eight points on a triple, two transition layups and a free throw. Senior Davionna Campbell netted all four of her points, and junior Jamiya Ratliff hit a pair of baskets for four of her six points.
Freshman Ryelan Lyerly, who notched six points in the win, drilled the first of her two three-pointers from the left wing. Swiney had a bucket in the first.
Both teams would score nine points in the second quarter, letting Richmond take a 30-15 lead into the break. McDougald added three more points and Lyerly capped her night with a three-ball.
Ratliff hit a jumper in transition and sophomore Kyla Sampson joined the scoring mix with a free throw. Scotland’s Kadence Sheppard, who finished with a team-high 18 points, netted nine in the first half.
“We talked about how we needed to come out strong on defense,” Swiney explained. “As long as we stopped Scotland, we knew we’d be able to score.
“Once we got the momentum going in our favor, we just kept it going,” she added. “That’s our strong point when we run the 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone defenses.”
A 12-0 Lady Raider run to start the third quarter put the game out of reach for good. McDougald started it with two transition baskets and senior Asia Douglas followed with a steal and a layup.
Sampson hit a triple from the top of the key on the next sequence and Douglas answered with a three-pointer to put Richmond up 27 points, 42-15.
In the game’s closing eight minutes, McDougald hit two buckets and four free throws to end her night. Swiney tacked on a layup off a steal at half court and Sampson added the final three of her seven points.
Senior Jakerra Covington scored two points in the win, but was big on defense, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and adding three steals. Ratliff had five boards and four steals and Douglas also recorded four steals.
“Jayla’s a great shooter, she’s tough and she shoots with confidence,” Moseley said. “Her and Jakerra played a great game tonight. Jakerra didn’t have a lot of points, but she was an asset on defense.”
Madysan Hammonds scored six points for Scotland (1-6, 1-5 SAC), and Natalia Rodrigues added five points.
The SAC tournament will begin Monday with the No. 4 Lady Raiders (6-4, 4-3 SAC) hosting No. 5 Purnell Swett High School (6-3, 4-3). Richmond will get the home game after defeating the Lady Rams head-to-head.
“It’s very important that we take this momentum into the conference tournament,” Moseley said. “I think we can play with any team in this conference, and we’ve shown that. We just have to learn how to finish games down the stretch.”
