ROCKINGHAM — Prior to Tuesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference basketball game between the Lady Raiders and Seventy-First High School, Richmond’s four senior players were recognized on senior night.
Complete with balloons, family members and a surprise framed photo of each player, those recognized were Davionna Campbell, Jakerra Covington, Asia Douglas and Jayla McDougald.
In a game that came down to the final seconds, defensive miscues late cost the Lady Raiders in a 57-54 loss.
“The seniors mean a lot to this team and we really wanted to win this game for them,” head coach Teddy Moseley said. “I’ve watched all four of them grow and become better players year after year.”
Covington finished with a double-double, netting a team-high 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Fourteen of those points came in the second half, including eight in the third quarter.
“I wish we could have gotten the win tonight, but it was my senior night and I wanted to give it my all,” Covington said of her performance. “Not only for senior night, but I wanted to win for my team.
“We did well after we got through some rough patches on defense,” she added. “We started doing better communicating and we did well running our transition offense. We spread the court and were able to drive.”
McDougald scored 15 points, including a team-high three three-pointers. Campbell scored one point, but was big on the boards, grabbing eight rebounds. Douglas had two points and two rebounds.
Sophomore Kyla Sampson also hit double digits for the Lady Raiders, netting 10 points. She had eight points in the second quarter, hitting two triples and a pair of free throws.
Junior Allyiah Swiney netted eight points, including the go-ahead putback to give Richmond a one-point lead in the closing minute.
With the first quarter tied at four points, the Lady Falcons (5-2, 5-1 SAC) used a 14-5 run to take a nine-point lead into the second. Swiney scored four of her points in the opening eight minutes on a pair of drives, including one at the buzzer.
McDougald started the game off with a triple from the right wing and both Campbell and freshman Ryelan Lyerly notched a free throw.
A 14-8 spurt by the Lady Raiders in the second helped them close the gap to a 29-23 halftime deficit. Covington started the stretch with three free throws and Sampson followed with a pair of triples from the left wing and the top of the arc.
McDougald splashed home another three-ball and Sampson’s two free throws with 56.1 seconds left were the final points of the half.
“The run in the second quarter helped us, but we have to be smarter,” Moseley said. “We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, but we made up for them in the second half. Down the stretch, we had a lot of defensive miscues.
“Every game we’ve lost this year, it’s about what we didn’t do,” he continued. “We didn’t execute on defense tonight. We had the lead late and we took ill-advised shots, and we committed fouls.”
Both teams battled in the third, and with 1:12 left on the clock, Covington drove the lane for her fourth field goal in the quarter to give Richmond a 35-34 lead. But a 7-0 run by Seventy-First made it 41-35 in its favor after three.
Richmond chipped away at the lead in the fourth, and a Covington putback high off the glass made it 49-46.
Sampson hit a transition jumper on the next rush and McDougald muscled her way past Ayanna Williams in the paint for two of her seven fourth-quarter points to put Richmond ahead by one with just over three minutes to play.
With the clock winding inside the final minute, Covington made a diving save on a ball that found Swiney under the basket, who laid it in to put Richmond ahead 54-53 with 19.7 seconds left.
But foul trouble led to Neveah Colon and Danae Hawkins each hitting a pair of free throws in the final 15 seconds to earn the win.
“It was really special tonight to have senior night because we’ve already lost so much this season,” Campbell said. “It brought some normalcy and I know we all appreciated it. The pictures were a surprise and it showed that we’re a family.
“We need to work on better communication, especially when we play man defense,” she continued. “If we can get that out of the way, we can win our last game.”
The Lady Raiders (5-4, 3-3 SAC) will close their regular season on Friday at Scotland High School (1-4, 1-4 SAC). Tip is set for 5 p.m. and a win would keep the Lady Raiders’ playoff hopes alive.
“We just want to win on Friday,” Moseley closed. “The most frustrating part of this is losing to teams that we play better than. We have to learn to finish games.”
