Lady Raiders end drought with a trip to state

The Lady Raiders competed in the state 2B basketball tournament last week, taking on teams from around the state and capping the year with the best game they've played all year, according to their coach.

"That was fun!" Lady Raider Head Coach Peewee Pleasants said about playing La Conner in the Lake Roosevelt team's final event of the tournament at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane on Friday. 

Pleasants said the Lady Raiders hadn't that quality of competition all season, and the girls showed their best stuff against the team that ended up ranked second in the state in WIAA's RPI ranking system and took fourth place among 55 teams in the state's 2B classification.

But there were tears. Players showed the emotional strain of giving it their all for weeks in the postseason, then coming to an abrupt end.

First, the Lady Raiders met Rainier in the arena on March 2.

LR was up 5-1 halfway through their first quarter against Rainier.

The Lady Raiders got lots of steals and rebounds but didn't cash in on a lot of them, lessening their lead. They were up 15-6 at the end of the first period.

Rainier cut LRs lead to four points in the first minute of the second to make the score 15-11, but LR answered back with a pair of threes to go up 21-11.

LR led 27-19 at the end of the half.

Rainier scored a quick five points to start the third quarter and cut LR's margin, but the Lady Raiders weren't having it. They built their lead back up with a fury, finishing the quarter up by 16 points, 48-32.

The game continued that way for a Lady Raider victory of 63-43. 

Cylia St. Pierre led LR with 25 points, including hitting four shots from three-point land, and five rebounds; Audrey Hansen scored 14, including hitting all six of her free throws, and had 10 rebounds; Zalissa Finley scored nine and pulled down 20 rebounds.

The next day against Okanogan, the Lady Bulldogs had a slight lead early in the game until Aailiyah Marchand hit a three to take an 8-6 lead halfway through the first, followed by an Audrey Hansen layup and free throws to go up 12-6.

LR led 13-8 by the end of the first quarter. 

Okanogan tied the game at 13 with a three pointer and a pair of free throws to start the second quarter. The teams traded threes, and Okanogan sunk two free throws for an 18-16 lead.

St. Pierre tied the game at 20 with free throws with one minute left in the half. Finley's offensive rebound and layup, plus a free throw, put LR back up 23-20. 

A faraway three from Carly Neddo in the last second of the half put Lake Roosevelt up 26-20. 

Okanogan took a 32-31 lead in the third, building that margin to 10 points before LR scored again when Hansen sank a basket to make it 41-33 Okanogan.

But Okanogan kept the momentum and closed the third up 49-36.

LR fought to stay in the game, closing Okanogan's lead down to six at one point, but Okanogan won in the end, 64-49.

Hansen was the leading scorer for LR with 17, followed by Aaliyah Marchand with nine.

Finley led LR in rebounds with six, followed by Hansen and St. Pierre with five each.

Following that 9 p.m. game, LR was on the court early the next morning.

They faced off at 9 a.m. against the top-ranked La Conner team and gave them a good fight, but ultimately lost 69-61, eliminating LR from the tournament.

Hansen led LR with 19 points; Marchand scored 15.

Finley had two steals and seven rebounds for LR, with Hansen pulling down an additional six.

Warden won the tournament, with Colfax placing second, Okanogan third, La Conner fourth, Liberty fifth, and Raymond sixth. 

"It was a good season with us being able to finally get into the Arena after an 11-year drought," Assistant Coach Matthew Pleasants said. "We ended up short in our goal, but we are looking forward to the returners. The seniors Almeta [Desautel] and Audrey will be missed, having had their experience on the squad, but we are comfortable with what we saw with the sophomore core, and we are looking forward to their next big step as players next year. We still return two juniors who played well during the tournament and expect big things from them moving forward too."

"We appreciate all the support that was provided to the girls through the course of the season, and hopefully we will see the same faces next season," he added.