Lady Raiders beat Moberly in OT

Three Rivers' Meredith Medlin drives the baseline in the second half Saturday night, Jan. 31, 2009, at the Bess Activity Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. (Daily American Republic/Rob Tate) [Click to enlarge]

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Three Rivers Lady Raiders came through with clutch free throws and defense Saturday at the Bess Activity Center.

Three Rivers' Sara Woodgeard made four free throws with under a minute remaining and the Lady Raiders forced bad shots to escape with a 76-73 Region XVI win over Moberly.

"It was a good, solid team effort all the way through," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "We played physical, we played like we should've played up there."

Fareedah Washington led the Lady Raiders with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Woodgeard finished with a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Raiders have now won three region games in a row after losing to Moberly on the road earlier this season.

"That is big for later on, regional seedings," Walk said.

Along with the Woodgeard free throws, the Lady Greyhounds made just one field goal in the last two minutes of overtime as the Lady Raiders forced bad shots on two game-tying attempts with less than 10 seconds remaining.

"They weren't going to beat us from the three-point line," Walk said. "You have to play to their weaknesses and we knew that they were going to get more points at the basket, we just wanted to make sure we kept them away."

Brittany Noel made a 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining to get Moberly within one but the team was determined to turn the Lady Greyhounds away from long range for the rest of the contest.

"(Coach) just told us to stay kind of packed in," Medlin said. "Don't jump out and pay attention to who the 3-point shooters are exactly. That is what we focused on."

After the Lady Greyhounds turned the ball over with 14.5 seconds left in the game, the Lady Raiders had a chance for the win. They got the ball inside to Washington but she missed the shot as well as her own rebound as the game went into overtime.

The game went into the half tied at 30 and the Lady Raiders got their offense rolling. After the teams traded baskets, the Lady Raiders went on a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 41-32 with 14:11 left in the game. The Lady Greyhounds went on a 24-15 run to tie the game at 56 with 5:39 remaining. The Lady Raiders knew they would have to keep the pressure on throughout the game.

"Good basketball teams are always going to make a run," Walk said. "That is why they are a good ballclub. They made several runs and I kept telling coach (Jack Childress) that we have to weather them and we did."

Moberly took a 4-2 to start the game but the Lady Raiders countered to take a 9-4 lead with 15:47 left in the first half. The teams traded baskets for much of the rest of the half Moberly scored four straight to tie the game heading into the locker room.

Walk liked his teams' ability to score at many different positions throughout the contest.

"We had good balance going like it has been going all year long," Walk said. "Washington is just a beast in the middle."

Notes: ... Moberly outrebounded the Lady Raiders, 46-43. ... Three Rivers had 14 assists in the game as compared to 12 for Moberly. ... Three Rivers had six steals while the Lady Greyhounds finished with four.