Lady Raiders on three-game win streak

The Lady Raiders picked up two wins in the Grand Coulee gym and are now in a three-game win streak.

Head Coach Wallace Pleasants attributes the winning ways in part to what Entiat had shown the Ladies in their loss. He said they had “played horrible at Entiat, and that exposed the girls to what needs to be worked on, and we have been working on that ever since.”

Last Tuesday, Bridgeport Fillies came to Grand Coulee for a game that had been moved due to the vandalism at their own school. The Fillies challenged the Lady Raiders, but in the end lost 55-43.

Coach Pleasants said his team was working through adversity and, “showed lots of improvement over the (Dec.4) Entiat game.” After working on defense in practice, he said, “it looked a lot sharper against Bridgeport.”

The Lady Raiders hosted the Manson Trojans Dec. 19, when they built a big lead early on, then held off a Trojan rally to stay ahead at halftime 33-17.

In the third quarter the Lady Raiders had trouble making shots, and the Trojans continued to rally, closing within nine points of Lake Roosevelt.

Then in the fourth, the Lady Raiders had an offensive explosion, scoring 20 points and sealing the win 58-40.

“Talked at halftime about what we can control on the floor and what we need to focus on,” Pleasants noted. “We had to work through the adversity and keep our composure. Once the girls did that, we played solid Lady Raider basketball.”

Katelynn Schilling led the Lady Raiders with 17 points against the Trojans. “Katelynn Schilling is working herself back in after her knee injury and is becoming a big part of the offense again,” Pleasants said.

Alana Epperson scored 12 points against Manson. Lachelle Bearcub put up 11 points. Riley Epperson contributed eight. Jocelyn Moore scored six points and grabbed some needed rebounds. Kayla St. Pierre and Kiana Sam each scored two points.

This week, the Lady Raiders have practice time to work on skills and heal up for the next stage of the season. On Monday, they will travel to West Valley High School in Spokane Valley to take part in the Eagle Holiday Classic, facing off against the Colton Wildcats. Tipoff is at 12:30 p.m.

Colton has won the 1B girls state title the past six years and is currently 6-0 scoring over 80 points in their last three games.

The next day, the Lady Raiders play Lakeland of Idaho at 2 p.m. Lakeland is 3-9 overall with many of those losses being close games.