By ANDREW FEEBACK
After a tight opening quarter, the Southern Wells Lady Raiders quickly turned the tide with a dominant second quarter on their way to a 42-21 win over the visiting Lakeland Christian Cougars.
The teams traded baskets early and played to an 8-8 stalemate after the opening frame. Over the next eight minutes, the Raiders (1-3) kept the Cougars (1-1) off the scoreboard and took an 11-point lead into halftime.
Coach Jessica Killingbeck felt her team took control by playing harder and executing plays.
“Energy and execution offensively,” she said. “Honestly, that’s all it comes down to.”
Kenzie Paxson led the Raiders with 10 points, and her basket early in the second half capped off a run of 17 consecutive Raider points for a 23-8 spread.
The Cougars’ only field goal of the period came from Dayton Sibert, who was the only Cougar to make a shot from the field in the second half.
Kaylea Coffel’s fast-break three-pointer in the closing seconds of the third quarter put the Raiders up 29-13.
Killingbeck liked how her team continued to get after it on the defensive end, even with the game pretty well out of reach at that point.
“We were really good defensively tonight,” she said. “We kept them out of the paint for the most part, limited our fouls, and it was just a team effort defensively.”
That defense contributed to 29 Cougar turnovers, and the Raiders finished the game, committing only four fouls.
The Raiders outscored the Cougars in every quarter and got into the win column after a tough three games to start the season.
Killingbeck felt this was a much-needed win that came at a good time.
“We played two really good teams with Union City and Eastbrook, and we talked about how we really needed this win, moving forward from this week and getting ready to go into conference play,” she said. “The girls have a little more confidence after that win tonight, and everybody from starters through the bench contributed, and so that only helps us feel a little bit better about ourselves.”
The Raiders also got nine points each from Ashlie Needler and Gracie Reeves.
For Lakeland Christian, Sibert and Katie Reimink both had nine.
No JV game was played.
Southern Wells will host Whitko on Saturday night.
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SOUTHERN WELLS 42,
LAKELAND CHRISTIAN 21
At Southern Wells
LAKELAND CHRISTIAN (1-1): Katie Reimink 2-8 4-4 9, Ellie Martinez 0-0 0-0 0, Lani Calizo 0-1 0-0 0, Abbie Wirebaugh 0-6 0-0 0, Anna Robertson 1-2 1-3 3, Emma Fick 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Stenoish 0-1 0-0 0, Madison Wobrock 0-2 0-0 0, Kelly-Rose Banadzem 0-1 0-0 0, Dayton Siebert 4-9 1-2 9. TOTALS: 7-31 6-9 21.
SOUTHERN WELLS (1-3): Erika Beavens 2-4 0-0 4, Kaylea Coffel 1-1 0-0 3, Aubree Meyer 0-1 0-0 0, Collena Reeves 1-7 0-0 2, Gracie Reeves 4-8 0-0 9, Kenzie Paxson 3-3 4-4 10, Breanna Leidig 0-2 0-0 0, Kyah Thomas 2-8 0-0 5, Karlee Warner 0-3 0-0 0, Ashlie Needler 4-9 1-1 9. TOTALS: 17-46 5-5 42.
Lakeland Christian 8 0 5 8 — 21
Southern Wells 8 11 10 13 — 42
Three-point Field Goals: Lakeland Christian 1-12 (Reimink 1-4, Wirebaugh 0-4, Fick 0-1, Stenoish 0-1, Sibert 0-1, Banadzem 0-1), Southern Wells 3-13 (Thomas 1-5, Coffel 1-1, Gracie Reeves 1-2, Collena Reeves 0-3, Warner 0-1, Needler 0-1). Rebounds: Lakeland Christian 22 (Robertson 7, Calizo 4, Fick 3, Stenoish 3, Reimink 3, Wobrock 1, Wirebaugh 1), Southern Wells 23 (Needler 5, Gracie Reeves 4, Collena Reeves 4, Thomas 3, Paxson 3, Beavans 2, Leidig 2). Turnovers: Lakeland Christian 29, Southern Wells 19. Fouls: Lakeland Christian 4, Southern Wells 5. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
