SOUTHERN PINES — After starting Mid-South Conference play with three straight wins, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ basketball team has dropped two straight games.
The second of those losses came Wednesday on the road at Pinecrest High School for the Lady Raiders, a 48-33 defeat.
Unable to find its rhythm on either side of the ball, Richmond trailed the entire game and was down by double digits for most of the second half.
Head coach Taneika Reader pointed to “too many missed layups and free throws” as the main issues on offense. Defensively, she said the Lady Raiders “didn’t play our physical brand of defense that other teams are used to.”
Senior Olivia Brown led the team in scoring with 10 points, including two three-pointers. Freshman Amiyah Streeter chipped in eight points off the bench.
Netting six points each were seniors Jasiah Gilchrist and J’Nasia Neal. Junior Madisen Jackson rounded out the scoring with three points.
A sloppy first half by both teams yielded a low score, including Richmond’s lowest first-half performance against a conference opponent this season.
The first quarter featured runs by both teams, starting with a 10-3 spurt by Pinecrest through the opening 4:15. Netting those three points for Richmond was Jackson, who had a free throw and later a transition drive.
Reader called a timeout with Richmond down seven points with 3:26 on the clock. That sparked a 5-0 run by the Lady Raiders to close the first and make it a one-possession game.
Brown started the stretch with a deep two along the right wing. Gilchrist had the next three points on a foul shot and a layup following a steal.
Starting the second quarter down 10-8, Richmond still couldn’t find its offensive groove. Pinecrest’s shooters struggled, too, as the two teams combined to score just 14 points.
The Lady Patriots (9-8, 2-1 MSC) outscored Richmond 9-5 in the second. Gilchrist scored on a putback near the 5:30 mark and a triple from Brown at the top of the arc with 1:28 left marked the final points for both teams.
Pinecrest entered the break with a 19-13 advantage.
The second half didn’t fare much better for the Lady Raiders, who scored just six points in the opening half of the third quarter. A three-pointer from Brown and a drive and a free throw from Neal made it a 24-19 deficit.
Pinecrest broke the game open with a 12-2 run to end the third. Streeter, who scored all of her points in the second half, made her first basket just before the buzzer.
Trailing 36-21 to begin the final quarter, Richmond saw solo free throws from Gilchrist and Neal not be able to match an early Pinecrest run. The Lady Patriots took two 20-point leads near the 5:00 mark, their largest leads of the game.
Richmond managed to cut its deficit to 43-31 thanks to an 8-0 run over a two-minute span. Streeter had four of the points on close-range shots and Gilchrist and Brown each finished a drive.
The closest the Lady Raiders would get the rest of the game was 12 points after that run, and following Streeter’s final bucket with 55 seconds left. Pinecrest scored a couple of late free throws before running out the clock.
With a quick turnaround planned, the Lady Raiders (9-8, 3-2 MSC) will travel to Pine Forest High School (8-10, 1-3 MSC) Friday for another conference game. Action will begin at 6 p.m.
