Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sidney junior Karly Sylvester is fouled as she goes up for two during the Lady Raider's victory over Alliance on Saturday.
Sidney senior Skylar Heineman squeezes through the defense during the Rede Raider's loss to Alliance on Saturday.
Sidney's Red Raider basketball teams faced off against Fort Morgan and Alliance over the last week heading into the holiday break, which will be a short one for Sidney as they host the Cabela's Holiday Shootout on Friday and Saturday of this week.
On Friday of last week, the Red Raiders traveled to Fort Morgan, Colo., to face the Mustangs and the action started off with the girls teams playing first.
Both teams had recently faced and defeated the Sterling Lady Tigers by wide margins, and the game looked to be a competitive contest prior to the start.
But the Lady Raiders came out fast with senior MJ Johnstone burying a 3 pointer followed by another three pointer by senior Jaylee Shaw en route to a 13-to-4 first quarter advantage.
The strong Sidney defense stymied the Lady Mustangs at every turn, causing turnovers and bad passes. Junior Morgan Jaggers nailed a three at the end of the half to give Sidney a 29-to-11 lead, and the Lady Raiders never looked back in an easy 54-to-31 victory.
Senior Mattie Johnson led the scoring with 18 points while junior Jersie Misegadis scored her first varsity points with a bucket in the second half coming off the bench.
The boy's team entered the game still looking for its first win at 0-and-5, and had a tall task ahead of them against a physical and big 2-and-2 Mustangs team.
The Raiders started the game well, playing good defense and matching up well against Fort Morgan's athletic guards. Sidney junior Zach Burke hit two three pointers in the first to keep the score close. But Fort Morgan big man Nick Norris got into a groove and the Mustangs were able to build a 20-to-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. Sidney had trouble keeping up with the speed of Fort Morgan and were unable to contain Norris, falling behind 40-to-20 at the half.
Fort Morgan continued the pressure in the second half, and took the win with a final score of 69-to-43. Sophomore Sawyer Dickman led the scoring for the Red Raiders with 12 points in the loss.
Sidney hosted the Alliance Bulldogs on Saturday, and the girls started fast again and quickly opened a 17-to-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Mattie Johnson putting up nine points in the first eight minutes.
The Lady Raiders pulled away easily, holding Alliance's 6' 3" senior Jordan Hopp to just three points, and ended their day with a 54-to-26 victory. Johnson was again the high scorer for Sidney with 21 points in the win, raising the Lady Raider's record to 4-and-3 after a 1-and-3 start to the season.
The boys faced an Alliance team with a similar dynamic as Fort Morgan; two speedy scoring guards and a dominant big man scoring from the inside. Sidney seemed to adjust well to the speed of Alliance, and played good defense in the opening quarter and kept pace in a low-scoring first quarter.
The Raiders kept up through the middle of the second quarter, with Sawyer Dickman hitting a three pointer to move Sidney to within three points at 17-to-14. But Alliance went on a six to two run to end the half to go up 23-to-16. The Alliance gaurds started to beat the Sidney defense in the second half, and went on another big run in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Raiders 27-to-7 to end the game in a 63-to-34 loss for Sidney. Senior Skylar Heineman led the Raiders with nine points in the loss.
The Sidney teams start the Cabela's Holiday Shootout Friday afternoon against the Ord Chanticleers in Sidney.
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