Lady Raiders Smother Yuma 51-21

After a grueling three game stretch last week, the Lady Raiders had a full week off, finally playing again on Saturday against the Lady Indians of Yuma, Colo. Sidney hosted the afternoon contest against a patient Yuma team that played tight defense. Not many shots were taken by other side in a low scoring start that had Sidney ahead 6-to-2 at the end of the first period. At the period break, Sidney Head Coach Tyler Shaw made some adjustments that had the Lady Raiders build up a 22-to-8 lead at the end of the first half. The Sidney defensive pressure was relentless in the second quarter and completely knocked the visitors out of their rhythm

"Yuma was really patient on offense so we turned up the pressure and tried to force some turnovers and quick shots. Wed had a couple of stretches where we were able to turn their turnovers into points", said Shaw.

The Sidney defense clamped down, trapping and smothering the Yuma offense, while forcing turnovers and bad passes. Multiple times the Sidney defense was able to steal inbounds passes and convert the turnovers into points for the Lady Raiders. The Sidney defense continued to harass and disrupt the Yuma schemes, while the Sidney offense was able to beat a packed-in Yuma zone with outside shots.

"Brynna Ross had a good day shooting the ball, hitting four three pointers that really opened it up for us", said Shaw.

With the game solidly in hand, the Sidney bench got plenty of playing time, sharpening their defensive sets while continuing to score for the Lady Raiders. The Sidney offense kept up the pressure and beat the Lady Indians by 30 points with a final score of 51-to-21. Ross led the scoring for Sidney with 12 points, all from three point shots, while junior Karly Sylvester dominated under the net with nine points in the victory. Sidney improves their season mark to 12-and-4 and next hosts Chadron at Sidney High School on Friday.