Raiders hand Spoilers first loss
Monday’s matchup between the Grafton Spoilers and the Lakota-Adams-Edmore Raiders was a rematch of the quarterfinal game between the two teams at the 2012 North Dakota Class B Girls Basketball Tournament.
The Raiders returned four starters from that contest to Monday’s game while the Spoilers returned one. That experience may have shown as the Raiders made fewer mistakes down the stretch, earning a 59-50 victory at Edmore.
“I thought we played a good game defensively,” L-A-E coach Jon Berg said after the game. “We came in with a good idea of what they wanted to do offensively with Cassie (Thompson) and Ali Burns. We wanted to limit their points and then take care of their role players. All the girls really stepped up defensively.”
The first half was defined by missed shot opportunities and plenty of turnovers by both squads.
The Raiders finished the first quarter on a 10-3 run for an 18-12 lead and maintained a 30-27 halftime advantage.
Grafton’s only lead in the contest came midway through the second quarter after a basket inside by Brooke Feltman that made the score 21-20 in favor of the Spoilers.
Grafton scored the first basket of the second half to pull within one point, but at the end of the third quarter trailed by seven, 42-35.
Grafton started the fourth quarter on a 6-1 run. A pair of made free throws by Feltman with just over a minute gone in the fourth quarter pulled the Spoilers to within two points, 43-41, but the Raiders refused to give up the lead.
Grafton cut the lead to two points, 48-46 with 4:08 to go in the game, but failed to make good on scoring opportunities with several unforced errors down the stretch.
L-A-E finished the game on an 11-4 run to account for the 59-50 final score.
“I think their physical play slowed us down,” Grafton coach Laurie Sieben said. “We need to execute more on the offensive end and we didn’t.”
The loss was the first for the Spoilers who dropped to 10-1. Meanwhile the Raiders improved to 10-2 on the season.
Cassie Thompson led Grafton with 25 points, followed by Alison Burns and Brooke Feltman with nine points each. Megan Jiskra added four points for Grafton, followed by Nicole Christinson with two and Lexie Lee with one.
Fallyn Freije led the Raiders with 28 points, followed by Ashtin Freije and Raeven Pesek with 10 points each. Alyssa Turner added six points for L-A-E, followed by Mary Haman with three and Miranda Martinson with two.