3RC women's defense unable to bail out offensive struggles in defeat

By ALAN DALE

Sports Editor

With dozens of alumni roaming the Libla Family Sports Complex, a Gene Bess statue unveiling (see related story), and ESPN+ cameras and crew on hand, the Three Rivers College women’s basketball team could be forgiven for being a little revved up Saturday evening.

Oh, then throw in an 18th-ranked Moberly Area College squad looking for payback and the No. 15 Lady Raiders were definitely dealing in more of a ‘Stranger Things’ backdrop and less ‘I Carly.’

It just never added up in the Lady Raiders favor and once the visiting ladies from Moberly gained control of the game, it stayed that way and the Three Rivers women fell 72-56.

It was a 34-point swing from the previous contest in December that Three Rivers (17-3, 4-2) won 70-52 in Hillsboro, and the Lady Raiders are now 0-2 on ESPN+ broadcasts this year.

Three Rivers, which lost for the first time at home in over three years, was led by Ari Winston and Da’Kariya Jackson as each put in 11 points – with the former snaring 10 rebounds. The Lady Raiders forced 25 Moberly turnovers but shot only 24.7 percent from the field.

Three Rivers head coach Alex Wiggs said the big challenge is to have his team find a way to stick to grinding out teams when the offense isn’t clicking.

“The last dynamic with this team is figuring out how to win games when shots aren’t falling,” Wiggs said. “Our three losses came when shots weren’t going in the hole. I thought we did a great job in the first half preventing easy layups and baskets. In the third quarter, we gave up three or four easy transition layups and baskets and that got us behind by about 14.

“We’d cut it to nine and then miss some shots and we need to continue to grow and learn. It’s one of those things. Your value is so much more than just the offensive end because you can bring so many other things. What can you bring to the table and what can you do when the shot’s not falling.”

The loss ended a 9-game winning streak against Moberly.

“We have to lick our wounds and grow from it so we can continue to grow,” Wiggs said.

The emotions of the day buoyed by the teams’ having so much at stake also were evident as the defense was all bite while early shooting was just bark as the game was scoreless for the first 275 seconds until Lady Raider Tameia Shaw drilled a triple to get the scoreboard operator some more work.

The Lady Greyhounds (22-2, 7-1) answered with an 11-0 run to get out to an early edge that ultimately would be a harbinger of what was to come.

Three Rivers grew tired of that nonsense and responded in kind with a 5-0 run and trailed 13-8 after 10 minutes of play.

Then the second quarter was definitely more of a friend as Three Rivers found its mojo and two Smith free throws to give the hosts their first lead, 19-17, 4:25 before halftime.

However, Moberly wasn’t going to make this easy and behind T’Aaliyah Miner who scored 15 points in the first 20 minutes to give the Lady Greyhounds a 27–22 edge as the fans hit the concession stands.

The third quarter had some bad juju flowing in Three Rivers disfavor as shots were unkind in result, a handful of attempts at the tin wouldn’t find the preferred destination and the Lady Greyhounds sliced their way up the court in transition to go up 36-24 by the 6:47 mark.

The difference through the first three quarters was the dynamic play of Miller and jet-quick guard Bukky Akinsola being able to get a lot of easy looks against the Three Rivers defense. Combine that with continued offensive struggles and the Lady Raiders were down 53-42 with a final quarter to play.

Things never got any better and the Lady Raiders fell once again on ESPN.