It was a successful weekend for the YRHS Lady Raiders senior girls鈥� basketball team as they travelled to Balgonie to participate in a two day, eight team tournament, where they went 2-1, bringing home the 鈥楤鈥� side championship in the process.
Game One of the tournament saw the Raiders take on a team that has recently become a rival: the Weyburn Eagles.
Both teams took to the court with a win over their opponent, however it was Weyburn that moved to 2-1 in the season series, trouncing the Lady Raiders 55-32 to send the YRHS to the 鈥楤鈥� side.
Alex Flaman and Hunter Frankfurt scored 10 points each in the defeat while Leah Fleger had five points as well.
Veteran Edie Schramm scored four points while hauling down three rebounds in the game.
鈥淚t was a tough game for us,鈥� suggested Lady Raider head coach Jessica Schmidt. 鈥淚t was a big game going in because we sit 1-1 with them this season and they鈥檙e in our conference and we ended up losing by about 20 points so it was a tough game and we didn鈥檛 really show up to play.
鈥淎t least we know we can compete with them so we have that knowledge with us going forward into conferences, although we didn鈥檛 show it on Friday.鈥�
The opening loss dropped the Lady Raiders to the 鈥楤鈥� side where they first met up with the Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans.
Meadow Lake lead by two after the first quarter, 11-9, and increased their lead to five at the break (20-15), however the tenacious Lady Raiders demonstrated their no quit work ethic, battling back in the third quarter to make it a one point game, 30-29, heading into the final frame.
The fourth quarter saw the Lady Raiders complete the comeback, outscoring their northern Saskatchewan opponents 15-13 to win by the smallest of margins, 44-43.
Fleger led the way offensively for the Lady Raiders against Carpenter, scoring a team high 13 points while picking up five rebounds.
Flaman also had strong game off the bench. The grade 10 workhorse was a basket away from double digits, picking up eight points while hauling in four boards.
Hunter Frankfurt and Olivia Tomcala dominated the boards in the 44-43 win. Frankfurt pulled down a game high 15 rebounds while Tomcala picked up nine of her own. In addition, both girls also scored six points.
The victory propelled the Lady Raiders into the 鈥楤鈥� side final where they met the feisty Regina Johnson Wildcats.
A high scoring first quarter in which both teams eclipsed the 20 points mark (the Raiders led 26-24 after one) was followed by three defence-first quarters that saw the Lady Raiders increase their two point lead to nine, resulting in a 59-50 Lady Raider win and the 鈥楤鈥� side title.
Fleger once again led all Lady Raiders in scoring, netting 17 points in the 鈥楤鈥� side win. In addition to her 17 points, Fleger also hauled in nine rebounds and picked up four assists.
The other member of the Lady Raiders dynamic duo, Frankfurt, picked up a double double, scoring 15 points and adding 10 rebounds while Breanne Mak also put together a strong game with six points and a total of eight rebounds in the win.
Following the tournament coach Schmidt said that while the girls may not have started off on the right foot, they didn鈥檛 let their opening game loss dictate the way the rest of the tournament went. 鈥淭he girls had an awesome day actually on Saturday and played really well and kind of stepped it up from Friday which was nice because you鈥檙e not always going to have the perfect game or the great game but it鈥檚 all about if you are able to come back from it and they were able to.鈥�
The next action for the Lady Raiders will be tomorrow (Thursday) when they host the Melville Cobras for an exhibition game at 4:00p.m.
They鈥檒l then travel to Kamsack for a game on the 11th before heading to Edmonton with the senior boys鈥� basketball team from February 18-20.
