Lady Raiders suffer hard loss in Okanogan

Opening the regular season in Okanogan last Thursday, the Lady Raiders were handed a hard loss by the high flying Lady Bulldogs. The final score of 76-22 is one of the bigger losses in recent memory.

“We need to improve everything, offense, defense, physicality -- everything needs to improve,” said Lady Raiders Head Coach Wallace Pleasants after the game.

In the first quarter, the Lady Bulldogs jumped ahead quickly.

Katelynn Schilling led the Lady Raiders offensively in the first quarter scoring three of the five points LR racked up. But a plague of LR turnovers in the first half led to 30-plus points for Okanogan and a 52-10 Lady Bulldogs lead at the end of the second quarter.

After halftime the Lady Raiders played better defense, allowing only 24 points during the second half with the running clock. Offensive turnovers were cut down from 17 to 10 in the second half. Pleasants liked the better play on defense and the better ball handling in the second half.

Rickyna Sam overcame the obstacles in the first half to bring the ball down and try to give the team a chance offensively. Sam was high-point player for the team with eight points.

Danielle Laramie tried to get things going with her play on the court. Katelynn Schilling continued to fight under the basket to grab rebounds and try to spark the team offensively.

Last night the Lady Raiders played the Tonasket Tigers for the home opener. The Tigers came in with momentum after a 65-35 victory over Liberty Bell on November 30th.

Now the Lady Raiders are preparing for the 1B portion of their North Central League schedule. They take on the Entiat Tigers at Gailord Nelson gym Monday starting at 6 p.m. Entiat knocked off the Lady Raiders in the district tournament last season and the LR will be looking for payback Monday night.