Three Rivers women fall in ESPN+ clash

An opportunity to play on a national broadcast by ESPN+ was an exciting moment for the Three Rivers Lady Raiders women’s basketball team Saturday in Mount Carmel, Illinois.

There the 17th-ranked Lady Raiders took on No. 14 Wabash Valley in a rematch of the season-opening contest between the two that saw the Three Rivers women win 91-79.

Well, the host Warriors took advantage of this opportunity to gain revenge and did so via a massive performance by Shaulana Wagner who finished with 47 points to lead Wabash Valley in a 91-75 win and record its 94th straight home win.

Three Rivers (12-2) was led by Ahniya Melton (14 points) and Tameia Shaw (13 points), Niaisya Ervin (10 points).

The Lady Raiders committed 29 turnovers but did shoot 51.1 percent from the field, however, allowed the Warriors to shoot at a 54.5 percent clip.

“We knew it was going to be a tough environment and a tough game,” “We got up by about four or five there in the second quarter and then they went up by halftime. I thought overall, our girls did a great job of battling in a (hostile) environment. I was proud of how we competed; we just need to get better – we let them get out of the middle of the floor too much and transition too much.”

“Wabash Valley is a good program.”

Wiggs noted that Da’Kariya Jackson was lost in the second half due to injury.

The first quarter showed both teams battle some obvious nerves and the offenses reflected it with a plethora of turnovers, missed shots, and some things in between.

Most of those turnovers were registered by the Lady Raiders as they fell behind 10-6 halfway through the first quarter.

The first 10 minutes couldn’t end faster for the Lady Raiders who ended up trailing 27-16 despite a number of miscues and the lost opportunity by the Warriors would cost them.

The Lady Raiders got real to start the second quarter as they scored the first nine points in 146 seconds and pulled within 27-25 on a Shaw triple.

Three Rivers then took a 36-34 lead with 3:15 to go before halftime on two free throws by Melton.

The Warriors (15-1) made a late push to recapture their earlier edge to lead 43-38 at the break, but the Lady Raiders alerted the audience that they weren’t out of the running.

“Definitely being on their home court, the big thing was they (took the lead) on back-to-back-to-back possessions,” Wiggs said. “If it hadn’t been on consecutive possessions, we would have been fine. Anytime you are on the road and with basketball being a game of runs, we’ve got to make sure in those big games in big moments we do a good job of limiting runs.

“They did what good teams are supposed to do, especially when you are playing at home. What makes a team really good is when you win these games on the road.”

The second half was a similarly inauspicious start for the Lady Raiders as the Warriors pushed their advantage back up into double digits over the first few minutes, trailing 54-42 at the 6:33 mark of the third quarter.

Things didn’t improve from that point as the Lady Raiders deficit grew to 26 points as they trailed 75-51 heading into the final quarter.