TWO FORCES COLLIDE IN WAGNER

The Lady Raiders hosted the Vermillion Tanagers last Tuesday night in girls basketball action. Both teams were sitting at a record of 15-3 with huge seeding points coming into play. The first quarter would be both teams feeling each other out and Wagner would find themselves with a 13-12 lead. The second quarter would be a huge one for the Raiders where they would extend the lead to as many as 12 and hold a 35-25 lead. The third quarter would be in favor of Vermillion as they would out score Wagner 20-7 and take a 43-42 lead into the 4th quarter. Both teams would trade baskets in the first two possessions and then Wagner would take a 50-46 lead. Vermillion would knot the game at 50 apiece and then the Raiders would counter with a three by Lydia Yost to give the Raiders a 53-50 advantage. Vermillion would have two shots in the final 8 seconds to try to tie the game but both shots fell well short of their target. Wagner would shoot 23-41 for 56% while the Tanagers would shoot 21-50 for 42%. Wagner would get out rebounded 22-21. Wagner would commit 10 turnovers compared to 9 from Vermillion. Lydia Yost would lead Wagner with 18 points, 3 boards and 3 assists. Ashlyn Koupal would follow that with 16 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Hayden Fischer would be the 3rd Raider in double figures with 13 points and 4 boards. Both Macy Koupal and Braxton Nedved would both finish with 5 points. Macy would finish with a team high 7 boards, and dish out 6 assists and come away with 2 steals. Braxton would grab 3 boards, dish out a team high 7 assists and also have 2 steals. “This was a great team effort! We had assists on every shot except 1 from transition. We moved the ball, took great care of it, and then hit open shots when given the opportunity. The one thing we didn’t do well was attack the paint off the dribble. They play very aggressive defense and have fouled a lot in previous games and we didn’t do a very good job of attacking all the way to the rim to get to the foul line. Defensively we did a great job of limiting them runs. They have 6 girls that can score 20 a night. They have had different people show up in the scoring column. We did a great job of limiting them. We held 3 of these players to just 19 points combined where these three have been averaging nearly 40 a game. Great job ladies!”