LADY RAIDERS REMAIN PERFECT
The Lady Raiders moved to 4-0 with a dramatic 52-49 win over Newton Falls.
Both offenses started pretty slowly taking 2 minutes to get a point on the board, with the Raiders taking an early lead 7-4 with 5:00 left. Newton Falls would take their first lead of the game at 9-7 with 2 minutes left in the frame, but Bree Kohler made sure that lead didn’t last long making it a tie game at 9-9 with a steal and fast-break layup. Newton Falls would hit a 3 to go up 12-9 but then Marlaina Slabach answered with a three of her own to tie the game back up at 12 and that would be the score after 1.
Senior guard Samantha Patrone had missed the last 2 games with an illness but in the opening seconds of the second frame, she would bury a three to put the Raiders ahead 15-12. For the next couple minutes, the two teams went back and forth with 4 and a half minutes left in the half the Raiders were holding on to a 21-18 lead when Bree Kohler’s suffocating defense struck again. Back to back steals and fast break layups by Kohler put the Raiders up 25-18 with just under 4 minutes in the half. Newton Falls, however, would fight back lead by Izzy Kline the Tigers fought back to get the game to a 25-23 Raider lead but Maddie Durkin hit a big three to make it 28-23. The Raiders would take a 28-26 lead into the half
The third frame started as slow as the first, with 2 minutes gone the only point scored was a Tiger free throw, but Maddie Durkin broke the Raider scoring drought to give the Raiders a 30-27 lead, which the Raiders would only grow throughout the quarter. Bree Kohler would put in a shot at the buzzer of the third to give the Raiders a 39-32 lead after 3.
To open the final frame of the game the Tigers hit a three to make it 39-35, but Samantha Patrone answered quickly with a three of her own to put it at 42-35 Raiders. Newton Falls would not stop fighting, getting the Raider lead back down to 2 at 44-42 but once again Patrone stepped up with a big three to put the Raiders up 47-42. Maddie Durkin went 4/4 from the line down the stretch to help the Raiders hold on and beat the Tigers 52-49.
The Raiders had 3 scorers in double figures. They were lead by Maddie Durkin who scored 15, Samantha Patrone added 11, and Bree Kohler got herself in double figures for the first time in her freshman season with 10. The Raiders move to 4-0 and will host Carrollton on Monday. JV will begin at 5:30
