Sidney Basketball Splits With Alliance

Sidney’s Red Raider Basketball teams traveled on Saturday to Alliance to take on the Bulldogs for the second time this season, and the girls cruised to a 67-to-24 victory while the boys struggled again against the Bulldog defense, losing by a final of 61-to-47.

After an easy 54-to-2 win by the Lady Raiders in the Western Conference Tournament earlier, Sidney Head Coach Tyler Shaw substituted early and often, getting valuable minutes to the bench players as the starters and substitutes combined for a 27-to-10 first quarter lead. Alliance played better than in their last meeting and were able to score some points, but turnovers and an inability to get off good shots put the Lady Bulldogs in a big 51-to-23 hole at the half.

Alliance only managed one point in the second half on a free throw, as the Lady Raider defense shut down Alliance then ran out the running clock for the 43 point victory. Senior Morgan Jaggers led the Lady Raiders with 13 points while Alliance had 29 turnovers in the loss. Sidney improved its’ record to 5-and-1 on the year.

The boys then faced off against an Alliance team that was able to use an early lead to keep the Red Raiders at bay and earn a 15 point victory in their first meeting. This time the Raiders again fell behind early, but struggled all night shooting from the field, getting few good looks from the Bulldogs’ defense and missing when they had open shots. Sidney junior Wyatt Hickenlively scored four points in the closing moments of the first quarter to narrow the Alliance lead to 17-to-9, but Sidney continued to struggle on offense through the second quarter, and fell behind 31-to-15 at the half.

Sidney fell behind by as much as 20 points in the third quarter, but were able to go on a few runs in the second half to narrow the Alliance lead. But the Bulldogs were too strong for the Raiders, and Sidney lost by 14 points, 61-to-47. Senior Zack Burke led the scoring for Sidney with 13 points. With the loss, Sidney fell to 3-and-3 on the season. The Cabela’s Holiday Shootout starts on Monday Dec. 28, and will be the Red Raiders final action for the year.