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Lady Raiders Closing Strong

Sidney's Lady Raider Basketball team continued their strong play, easily beating Gering and Scottsbluff in road action over the weekend.

The Lady Raiders had no trouble with Gering when they visited Sidney last month, but this contest started differently with Gering keeping pace with Sidney offensively and the Lady Raiders struggling with turnovers.

Sidney was able to muscle through the first half, but only led by three points, 26-to-23. But the second half started with the Lady Raiders ratcheting up the defensive pressure, disrupting and harassing the Lady Bulldog offense into turnovers and poor shot selection.

Sidney pulled out to a big lead and continued to surge through the fourth quarter, ending the game with a 53-to-35 victory.

Senior Mattie Johnson led the Sidney scoring with 17 points in the win, although the Lady Raiders committed too many turnovers and struggled at the free throw line.

On Saturday Sidney once again traveled north, this time to face a Scottsbluff team that they had lost to in overtime at the start of the season. Sidney went to work in the first half, playing strong defense while getting their offense into a scoring groove. The Lady Bearcats fought to keep pace, but the Lady Raiders opened a substantial 37-to-22 halftime lead. The third quarter had both teams going on scoring runs, with Sidney opening a 20 point lead during the quarter. But Scottsbluff hit a flurry of shots to end the quarter trailing 51-to-39.

It seemed that Sidney would break out and seal the game in the third period, but again an inordinate amount of turnovers and continuing struggles at the free throw line kept the game close until the final minutes.

Finally, after Scottsbluff''s Mariah Avila became the third Lady Bearcat player to foul out, Sidney added a few baskets to close the game with a 60-to-46 victory.

Junior Karly Sylvester led the Lady Raider scoring with 17 points, while senior Nicole Birner added 14 points, with 12 coming in the first quarter. Sidney turned the ball over 21 times and struggled at the line, only making 11 of 29 free throws in the victory.

Sidney closes out the regular season with a road game against Alliance that was scheduled for Tuesday, and then a trip up to Chadron on Friday to face off against the Lady Cardinals.

 

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