ROCKINGHAM — Opening the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament on Monday, the No. 4 Lady Raiders executed their game plan for the first three quarters of play.
But a slow fourth quarter allowed No. 5 Purnell Swett High School to break the game open late and earn the 61-47 upset win.
“We didn’t play well at all in the fourth quarter,” Moseley said. “We had a game plan, we worked on it before the game. We knew exactly how to break their press and we did it early in the game.
“But (Purnell Swett) made the adjustments and cut off the first pass,” he added. “So, we in turn made ours and hit the second guard coming. We continued to force the ball to the first guard over and over and over.”
Richmond was outscored 21-5 in the fourth quarter, despite holding a two-point lead after three. Purnell Swett’s Natalie Evington scored nine of her game-high 22 points in the final frame, with teammates Jada Coward and Chloe Locklear each added four points late.
For the Lady Raiders, senior forward Jakerra Covington notched a team-high 14 points, while senior point guard Jayla McDougald added 13 points. In the regular season, Richmond and Purnell Swett split the series.
“Jakerra was big for us again tonight, but our other post players have to be able to score under the basket,” Moseley shared. “We missed too many layups right underneath the basket.”
Both teams played nearly an identical game through the opening three periods, including ties at the end of the first and second quarters. The Lady Rams took a 9-2 lead early in the first but Richmond rallied with an 8-0 run to put the Lady Raiders up by a point.
That stretch featured a three-pointer from junior Allyiah Swiney, who finished with nine points. McDougald got her night started with a drive and a free throw, and senior Asia Douglas netted her lone two points.
Covington scored four points in the first, and freshman forward Ryelan Lyerly tied the game late in the opening stanza with a triple from the left wing. A floater from McDougald kept the score tied at 18 points at the buzzer.
Richmond and Purnell Swett each added 12 points in the second to enter the break knotted at 30 points. Covington scored five points to end the half with nine, and Evington tacked on four more points to lead all scorers with 10 points at the half.
Swiney added three for Richmond and both McDougald and senior Davionna Campbell notched two points.
A 10-5 run by Richmond in the final 4:20 of the third quarter helped the Lady Raiders take a 42-40 lead into the fourth. McDougald started it with a contested three at the top of the arc and Covington finished the old-fashioned three-point play on the next sequence.
Jumpers from Swiney and sophomore Kyla Sampson ended the run, while a block by junior Jamiya Ratliff on Destiny Locklear in the final minute preserved the one-possession lead.
“We played together and executed our plays in the first three quarters,” McDougald said. “We handled the (defensive) pressure really well. But things got really hectic in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of us had three or four fouls, so we couldn’t play as aggressive as we wanted to,” she added. “It was hard to not foul but still go as hard as we could to try and get the lead back.”
A transition basket by Lyerly in the opening minute of the fourth wasn’t added to by Richmond until McDougald finished a hard drive and a free throw with 19.9 seconds left. During that stretch, Purnell Swett put up 21 straight points.
“The few times that we ran our press break right in the fourth it worked,” Moseley said. “We have to learn to play under pressure and not play afraid when we get a little pressure applied to us. This has been a season of ‘we should’ve won.’”
Following a different format with no eliminations, this year’s SAC tournament will see every team play three games. With their loss, the No. 4 Lady Raiders will host No. 8 Hoke County on Wednesday in the consolation bracket.
“We need to stay more focused and keep our energy up,” McDougald said of resetting for round two. “We have all the things we need to win, we just need to execute it. If we can get some shots up and stay loose, we’ll be ready.”
