Sidney Wins Comeback Thriller

Sidney's Lady Raider basketball team defeated the Platteview Lady Trojans 42-to-37 in the District Final on Saturday at Sidney High School to advance to the State Tournament. The 22-and-3 Lady Raiders will face the 19-and-5 Elkhorn Lady Antlers in the first round of the State Tournament in Lincoln on February 28. This is the third year in a row the Lady Raiders have qualified for the State Tournament.

Both teams started slowly, playing aggressive defense that had neither team score in the first two minutes. Platteview finally hit a three pointer and then ratcheted up their defense, pressuring the Lady Raiders into turnovers and bad passes. Sidney struggled to score and by around the 3 minute mark had fallen into 14-to-2 deficit. Platteview's lead was built upon four three point hits in the first quarter, while the Lady Raiders were ineffective from long range.

As the first period wound down, Sidney started to get their openings and chipped away at the lead, while Platteview committed four fouls in the final 1:30 of the period, which would hurt the Lady Trojans later in the half. The first quarter ended with Platteview up 16-to-8.

The second period started with Platteview quickly collecting their sixth foul while the Lady Raiders kept missing scoring opportunities. Sidney continued to struggle against the Lady Trojans pressure defense, and could not get the ball through the hoop in their limited opportunities. While both teams offenses went cold in the second period, the Lady Trojans were in foul trouble and Sidney took advantage. The Lady Raiders only scored one basket by senior Karly Sylvester in the period, but were able to cash in effectively enough at the free throw line to keep pace with the Lady Trojans. As in the first, the Lady Raiders ended the second period trailing by eight, 26-to-18.

Sidney head coach Tyler Shaw said, "I was really happy that we didn't quit after our slow start. They came out and hit some three's, but we didn't panic. We just kept going at them on offense and got them into foul trouble." The third period started with Sidney again missing an easy shot and then a three-pointer while Plattevie had their own troubles holding onto the ball. Finally, Sidney senior Janay Brauer found Sidney junior Mattie Johnson open under the net and fired a pass that Johnson put up for two to trim the lead to 26-to-20. After Platteview scored two points of their own, Sidney senior Meaghan Ross connected for her first three pointer of the game to trim the lead down to 28-to-23.

After Platteview scored again, the Lady Raiders ramped up the defensive pressure and the Sidney crowd sensed the momentum shift and amped up the noise level. Brauer then scored in two successive possessions to get Sidney to within three at 30-to-27. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the period, and the teams went into the final stanza with Platteview hanging on to a three point lead. Platteview's strategy of slowing down the game with a patient offense to limit Sidney's scoring opportunities had started to unravel as the Lady Trojan's offense went ice cold.

Platteview started the fourth by sinking two foul shots, then again went to the pressure defense which had given Sidney fits throughout the game.

The defensive struggle continued when at the halfway mark of the period, Mattie Johnson threw away a pass giving the ball to Platteview at a critical point in the game. But Platteview could not inbound the ball in time, and Sidney got the ball back and surge of momentum. Ross drove the lane and switched the ball from her right to left hand in mid-air for two, and drew the foul. Ross' foul shot missed, but senior Katelyn Sylvester grabbed the rebound and was fouled going up for a shot. She then sank two free throws to put Sidney in the lead 34-to-33, and the Lady Raiders would not trail again in the contest. The teams played tough defense through the rest of the game, and baskets were hard to come by for both teams, but the difference turned out to be Sidney's solid free throw shooting down the stretch. The Lady Raiders held on to win the Class B, District 2 championship 42-to-37.

Coach Shaw talked about Sidney's second half turnaround, saying, "In the second half we got way more stops and kept chipping away. We were finally able to get a lead in the fourth quarter, then we hit some key free throws down the stretch to hold on."

Senior Meaghan Ross and junior Mattie Johnson led the Lady Raider's scoring with 10 points each in the win. Sidney is scheduled to face Elkhorn in the first round of the NSAA State Tournament on February 28.