Lady Raiders Win Cabela's Shootout

With the annual Cabela's Holiday Shootout delayed due to the snow, the action finally tipped off on Monday Dec. 30 with the Lady Raiders facing off against the Lady Broncs from Burns, Wyo.

Burns started the game with a three pointer but quickly fell behind under the pressure of the Sidney defense.

Despite connecting on a few long distance bombs, the Lady Broncs fell behind 22-to-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Burns was able to hang in for a stretch in the second quarter, but the Sidney defense was too much, especially in a game where the Lady Raider's shots were falling consistently.

Burns got very few good looks or easy shots as the Sidney team played them tough in a physical game that ended in a Sidney victory, 70-to-39. Senior Mattie Johnson and junior Karly Sylvester both had 14 points in the victory.

On Tuesday, The Lady Raiders were the visiting team in the championship game against the Torrington Lady Trailblazers, and got off to a slow start with shots not falling and turnovers.

The Lady Blazers played tough defense against Sidney, but quickly started racking up fouls. Sidney picked up the pace and pulled away to a 14-to-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, after senior Kendra Nesbitt blocked a three point attempt at the buzzer.

Torrington went on a run in the second quarter to narrow the gap and put pressure on Sidney. But the Lady Raiders responded down the stretch, and took a 31-to-24 lead into the intermission after Slyvester buried a three pointer as time expired in the second quarter. Sidney continued to attack Torrington's press in the second half, and rolled on to a 65-to-41 final and another Cabela's Holiday Shootout championship. Sylvester led the scoring with a 14 point first half, but was limited in time in the second half with foul trouble to end with 16 points on the night.

On Saturday, Sidney traveled to Holdrege to take on the Lady Dusters, and found themselves in a fight, going into the break down 21-to-17 against a tough Holdrege defense. But the Lady Raiders were able to turn it around in the second half, clamping down on defense while getting their shots to fall. They limited the Lady Dusters to just 10 points in the second half to come from behind and take the 44-to-31 victory, their sixth in a row after starting the season at 1-and-3.

Sidney Head Coach Tyler Shaw's squad is seeing success shooting the ball after a shaky offensive start to the season.

He said, " We want all of our players to know which types of shots we are striving for on offense. Once they know which shots are ideal, we want them to shoot them confidently and freely. We feel this is only going to help us going forward."

The Lady Raiders are back in action Friday, hosting the Gering Lady Bulldogs at Sidney High School.