Lady Raiders Suffer First Loss of Season

The Lady Raiders basketball team's unbeaten stretch came to an end on Friday night as they fell to the Orioles of Charlotte, 52-33.

The Orioles jumped up out to an 8-4 lead at the end of the first, and the extended the lead to 27-14 at the half. Charlotte’s aggressive defense was allowing he Raiders very few easy shots and forced more than a few errant passes.

The second quarter was not much better for the Raiders. Charlotte would extend their lead to 43-19 at the end of three.

The Raiders showed a bit of a spark early in the fourth and it was their highest scoring period of the game with 14 points, but the Charlotte defense, combined with some cold shooting by the Raiders, was just too much to come back from. The final score was Charlotte 51, Portland 33.

Charlotte was a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line. Their leading scorers were Seniors Carly Scheblo and Ashley Beck, each with 12 points.

Top scorers for the Lady Raiders were Senior Lesley Barker with 11, Freshman Ashley Bower with 6, and Sophomore Ava Gruber and Freshman Breckyn Werner each scored 4

After the game, Raider Head Coach Jason Haid said, “It was a tough match up for us. I thought we were outsized in nearly every position and they took advantage of it. They were very active in their zone. It seemed like most of the outside shots we took were contested, and we struggled to get the ball inside. We struggled to get the ball to the high post early in the first half. In the second half we had a bit more success with it, but they shoot the ball very well and that was the difference in the game. They were shooting uncontested jumpers, and knocking everything down and we were shooting contested jumpers. It just seemed like it wasn’t our night. They were the better team tonight. The good news for us is we still see them again eight games from now and we will see how much we can improve from now until then.”

Score by quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Charlotte 8 – 21 – 15 – 8 - 52

Portland 4 – 10 – 5 – 14 – 33

Charlotte improves to 9-2 overall and 5-0 in the CAAC White, now alone in first place for the conference. The Raiders move to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the CAAC White. And fall to second.

The Raiders next action is next Friday night at Ionia. The Bulldogs are 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the CAAC White.