By ANDREW FEEBACK
Basketball becomes more difficult when the ball won’t go through the hoop.
Such was the case for the Southern Wells Lady Raiders Friday night in a 53-30 loss to the visiting Garrett Railroaders.
The Raiders (3-10) were just 11 of 48 overall and 3 of 24 beyond the arc.
It didn’t start out too poorly, however, as the Raiders made three shots in a row for an early 7-3 lead.
Kyah Thomas’s third field goal of the game had Southern Wells up 9-6, then the Raiders tied it twice before trailing just 15-13 at the first break.
Then, a combination of offensive struggles for the hosts, along with the visitors catching fire from the three-point line, turned the game into a struggle for Southern Wells.
“We just got stagnant,” coach Jessica Killingbeck said. “They face-guarded Ashlie and Collena; we worked on it in walkthrough today. We just got stagnant. We got good looks, our shots just didn’t fall tonight.”
Garrett (4-10) scored all but one of its second quarter points from the perimeter, with Rilyn Flotow, Brooklyn Jacobs, Sarah DePew and Madison Freeze all hitting from deep. The last one from Flotow gave the Railroaders a 31-20 lead at the break.
All eight of Garrett’s triples came in the first half, and the Railroaders didn’t even score for first four minutes of the second half.
The trouble was, neither did Southern Wells. A short jumper in the paint from Collena Reeves was all the Raiders managed in the third quarter.
Garrett scored the first nine points of the final stanza to put it completely out of reach.
DePew and Flowtow led the Railroaders with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
For Southern Wells, Thomas had 10 and Kenzie Paxson scored nine points to go along with 14 rebounds.
The arrival of Christmas break comes at a good time for the Raiders.
“We need a break, so time off will be nice for us,” Killingbeck said. “We’ve got sectionals in almost a month. Focusing on taking care of the basketball and executing scouts like I felt like we had the last three games…the girls know what they need to do to get it done.”
Southern Wells will host Randolph Southern next Thursday night.
The Raiders won the JV game 34-16. Erika Beavans scored nine points, Remi Holmes had seven, Gracie Reeves had six, Kaylea Coffee and Kyah Thomas both had five, and Aubree Meyer added two.
GARRETT 53,
SOUTHERN WELLS 30
At Southern Wells
GARRETT (4-10): Tori Hug 0-0 0-0 0, Addisyn Terry 0-0 0-0 0, Emma LaPato 2-6 0-0 5, Charlotte Lemen 0-0 0-0 0, Bianca Beisheim 1-2 0-0 2, Brooklyn Jacobs 2-4 0-0 5, Kelsey Bergman 3-7 1-1 7, Sarah DePew 2-14 7-8 13, Madison Freeze 1-2 0-0 3, Delaeni Hixson 3-5 1-2 7, Rilyn Flotow 4-11 0-0 11. TOTALS: 18-51 9-11 53.
SOUTHERN WELLS (3-10): Erika Beavans 0-1 0-0 0, Kaylea Coffel 1-5 0-0 3, Aubree Meyer 0-1 0-0 0, Collena Reeves 3-9 0-0 6, Gracie Reeves 0-2 0-0 0, Kenzie Paxson 2-6 5-6 9, Breanna Leidig 0-0 0-0 0, Kyah Thomas 4-9 0-0 10, Karlee Warner 0-7 0-0 0, Ashlie Needler 1-8 0-0 2. TOTALS: 11-48 5-6 33.
Garrett 15 16 6 16 – 53
Southern Wells 13 7 2 8 – 30
Three-point goals: Garrett 8-29 (Flotow 3-10, DePew 2-10, Jacobs 1-3, LaPato 1-4, Freeze 1-2), Southern Wells 3-24 (Thomas 2-7, Coffel 1-4, Collena Reeves 0-4, Gracie Reeves 0-2, Warner 0-5, Needler 0-1, Beavans 0-1). Rebounds: Garrett 27 (Hixson 7, DePew 6, Bergman 5, Flowtow 3, LaPato 2, Jacobs 2, Freeze 1, Beisheim 1), Southern Wells 34 (Paxson 14, Needler 10, Collena Reeves 4, Meyer 2, Beavans 1, Gracies Reeves 1, Thomas 1, Warner 1). Turnovers: Garrett 13, Southern Wells 21. Fouls: Garrett 11, Southern Wells 11. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Southern Wells 34, Garrett 16.
