RENO—The Reed girls found themselves in a tight contest early on Tuesday night at Galena.
But the Raiders’ athleticism eventually took over and they proceeded to roll, grabbing a 60-28 DI North road win over the Grizzlies.
“I think it’s still that leadership thing, like who’s going to pump us up?” Reed coach Sara Schopper-Ramirez said of her squad’s slow start. “We came into the gym, there wasn’t a lot of fans. There was no music … It took us a half and good, hard halftime talk to make them play a little bit harder.”
The Grizzlies (2-9, 1-4) actually led the Raiders (5-3, 3-2) 12-11 early in the second quarter following a pair of Mikenzie Stretch free throws.
Then Reed coach Sara Schopper-Ramriez put on the full court press and the Raiders were literally off to the races.
Her Raiders responded with a 16-0 run that spanned the rest of the second quarter until Morgan Crofoot put back an offensive rebound at the buzzer that still left the hosts down 27-14—an insurmountable deficit.
“If we can convert the turnovers and make them into points, then I think we can press any team,” Schopper-Ramirez said.
The lead ballooned to 45-25 after three quarters before the Raiders outscored the Grizzlies 15-3 over the final eight minutes.
Taylor Johnson scored 19 points after the first quarter, which saw Reed lead just 9-8, to pace the Raiders. Vanessa Hernandez chipped in 11 after the initial eight minutes.
Reed was without sophomore standout Serene Townsell-Williams which undoubtedly contributed to the slow start. Townsell-Williams was diagnosed with pneumonia in the days leading up to the contest.
“The first half, I thought they played like they didn’t know what was going on,” Reed’s coach said. “I told them ‘hey, this is a challenge for you right now? Who is going to step up?’ And I thought the second half, they were filling the spot, rotating better.”
Schopper-Ramirez plans on having the first-team all-region selection back next week.
Reed wraps up non-league play Wednesday night at home against Lovelock before hosting Wooster Friday night in a DI North contest.
“This is good for our bench to see minutes right now (without Townsell-Williams). Everybody needs to be able to play any spot at any time,” Schopper-Ramirez said. “Because you just never know. The season is long.”
Tigers topple Cougs
Spanish Springs went to Douglas on Tuesday night and was handed a 50-36 road loss by the Tigers (4-9, 1-4).
The Cougs fell to 3-12, 1-4.
Douglas led 17-9 after the first quarter and extended the gap to 30-14 at the half before melting away the final two quarters.
Spanish Springs, which has now dropped four-straight DI North contests, will continue to look for DI North win No. 2 on Friday night at home against Galena.
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