WAGNER OPENS THE YEAR AT WINNER

The Lady Raiders traveled to Winner take on the Warriors last Friday night in girls basketball action. Both teams would come out to a sluggish start with Wagner taking a 10-9 lead after one. Wagner would stretch it’s lead to 26-19 going into the half. Winner would start the second half on a 5-0 run and cut the lead to 26-24. The game would stay tight the entire way through the third quarter where Wagner would hold a 37-32 lead. Wagner would save it’s best quarter for last and push the lead up to as many as 16 and come away with their first win of the season 58-44. Ashlyn Koupal would flirt with a triple-double with 35 points, 12 boards, 6 blocks and 2 steals. Macy Koupal would add 14 points, 10 boards, and a team high 6 assists. Braxton Nedved would finish with 5 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. Lydia Yost would chip in 2 points, grab 8 boards, dish out 3 assists, and grab 2 steals. Aniyah Fields would add 2 points and Hayden Fischer would grab 4 boards. Wagner would shoot 18-39 from the field for 46% while Winner would go 18-60 for 30%. Wagner would control the glass winning the battle of the boards 36 to 21. Wagner would dish out 13 assists. Wagner would have a hay-day from the charity strip hitting 16-21 from the line while Winner would be 4-5. Wagner would commit 17 turnovers to Winners 13. “This was a great test for us to start the year. They are an experienced team that brought back everyone from a year ago that won 15 games throughout the season. We played with some jitters early but thought I we responded well, especially being on the road. We do need to clean up our passing in the full court and half court. Winner shot nearly 20 more times than we did due to our turnovers and the offensive boards they got. On our possessions in the first half where we turned it over we didn’t get shots in transition and turned it over instead. All learning experiences and now we move on to the next game!”