Lay Raiders Right Offense

Sidney’s Lady Raider Basketball team halted their two game losing streak with three consecutive victories by convincing margins over the past week. After a series of games that had the Lady Raiders struggling with turnovers and offensive cold spells, and two losses in a row, Sidney’s offense looked much sharper during the week’s contests.

Sidney started on Tuesday Jan. 5 with an afternoon matchup against the South Sioux City Lady Cardinals. The visitors have had a rough start to their season with only one win, but South Sioux City is a Class B team, so Sidney could not take this opponent lightly. The Lady Raiders started strong, pulling out to a 9-to-0 lead in the first quarter before the Lady Cardinals scored their first points. After a lull midway through the period, Sidney finished strong to hold a 11-to-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Sidney scored the first points of the second quarter, but the offense then went cold, and the Lady Cardinals closed the gap to within one point until junior Brynna Ross’ coast-to-coast fast break layup at the buzzer gave Sidney a three point lead at the half, 24-to-21.

Sidney got their passing game in gear to start the second half, and went on an 11-to-4 run through the first half of the quarter. Sidney was able to hold a 10 point edge at the end of the third quarter, and continued to pass well and score while shutting down the Lady Cardinals’ attack, and pulled away to a 49-to-35 victory. The offense was able to minimize the bad passing while maintaining the aggressive running style the Lady Raiders use, even if Sidney went through a few periods of cold shooting.

Next up on Friday was a trip up to Gering to face off against the rival Lady Bulldogs. After pulling out a 53-to-51 victory to start the season in their first meeting, the teams opened with a low scoring but well played first quarter that had Sidney leading 10-to-8 going into the second period. After falling behind 12-to-11 in the second quarter, Sidney went on an 11-to-0 run, and after junior Alecca Campbell made the foul shot to complete a three-point play, the Lady Raiders headed into the half up 28-to-18. The 10 point advantage swelled to 14 points by the end of the third quarter, and Sidney needed that cushion to survive a few cold shooting spells and a series of turnovers as Gering narrowed the lead, but the Lady Raiders were able hold off the Lady Bulldogs for the 51-to-43 victory. Alecca Campbell led the Sidney scoring with 13 points in the win.

On Saturday Sidney hosted the McCook Lady Bison, and Sylvester had a hot start with two quick baskets and Lady Raiders offense was off and running, slinging the ball down the court while Sidney scored from the inside and outside opening a 21-to-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. The scoring continued in the third quarter, highlighted by Sylvester’s first three-point hit of the year and Campbell’s buzzer-beating three pointer off the backboard to give Sidney a 38-to-19 halftime lead. The Lady Bison could not stop the Sidney offense, and wilted under the pressure of the Sidney’s aggressive defense. Sidney took the victory by a final score of 67-to-36, and had three players score in double-figures on the night; Campbell with 13, Sylvester with 12 and Ross with 11. Sylvester also had 13 rebounds for the double-double.

Sidney improves their record to 10-and-3 on the season, and looks to have found more consistency in their offense while settling down their passing game. Sidney was next scheduled to travel to Mitchell and face the Lady Tigers on Tuesday.