The season may be young, but the veteran-laden YRHS Lady Raiders girls鈥� basketball team has already come away from two tournaments with third place finishes.
The Lady Raiders equalled last weekend鈥檚 2-1, third place finish in Prince Albert with an identical 2-1, third place finish in Swift Current, opening their most recent tournament up with a hard-fought 49-45 win over Weyburn to move to the 鈥楢鈥� side.
Once there the orange-clad ladies competed with the host Swift Current Ardens for two quarters before a lack of effort in the second half resulted in a 65-48 loss. 鈥淲e played about a half of a game of basketball, so if we could have played four, smart quarters then we would have been in that game,鈥� YRHS Lady Raider head coach Jessica Kyle told Yorkton This Week. 鈥淲e just have to be prepared to play an entire game of basketball if we want to go to the final.鈥�
The loss to the eventual tournament champions dropped the Lady Raiders to the bronze medal game against the Moose Jaw 鈥� Central Cyclones, who were beaten by the Estevan Elecs in the other 鈥楢鈥� side semi-final.
A strong opening half saw the Lady Raiders go into the break with the lead, but a lacklustre third quarter meant the Raiders fell behind with just one quarter remaining.
Cue the comeback, as the Lady Raider offence woke up in the final quarter, outscoring the Cyclones the rest of the way to come out victors via a 48-45 score-line for their second consecutive third place finish. 鈥淚鈥檓 super happy with third place and I鈥檓 really proud of them, but second place or first place would be really awesome too,鈥� said coach Kyle, adding that she hopes the girls won鈥檛 be too happy with a third place finish. 鈥淗opefully we don鈥檛 just settle with third in the future tournaments and instead compete for first place or at least get in to the final game.鈥�
To do that, however, the Lady Raiders need to put together full four quarter efforts; something that has eluded them so far this season. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e played a full game of basketball yet. We鈥檝e played three quarters or two quarters, but the big thing is that we have to play four quarters of basketball and put ourselves in the position to win those tough games,鈥� offered coach Kyle, adding that the decision to put forth the effort is ultimately up to the players. 鈥淚 always tell them that I can try to motivate them and have a big pep talk ready for them and be as positive as I can be, but it really comes down to them stepping on that court and carrying through.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the ones that actually have to get out there and do it and every time they鈥檙e on that court they have to play and play hard.鈥�
The Lady Raiders will now get ready for a midweek exhibition game against Regina鈥檚 Riffel Royals on Wednesday night in the Queen City. So far the Royals are 2-1 in the Regina High School Basketball League with wins over Winston Knoll (52-36) and O鈥橬eill (59-32), while their only loss came at the hands of the undefeated LeBoldus Golden Suns (56-48).
