Lewis & Clark spoils sophomore sendoff

Three Rivers sophomore Meridith Medlin drives the baseline in the first half against Lewis & Clark's Lindsey Branham Tuesday at the Bess Activity Center. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

It was a sour Sophomore Night for the Three Rivers Lady Raiders Tuesday at the Bess Activity Center.

Three Rivers honored seven sophomores before the game against Lewis & Clark but the festivities ended there as Three Rivers lost the game, 74-64.

Meridith Medlin, Morgan Davis, Brittney Peet, Kaci Menz, Fareedah Washington, Medina Smith and Denisha Mitchell were all honored before their final regular season game at the Bess Activity Center.

All the sophomores led in different ways throughout the season.

"The sophomore leadership, me and (coach) Jack (Childress) talked yesterday, we don't have a quote verbal leader," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "We got a lot of leaders out there that by example."

Washington led the Lady Raiders with 20 points and eight rebounds. Davis had 10 points and Medlin had just four but led the team on the night with five assists.

"She gives it everything she's got, not to say the other kids don't, but she is one that leads us by example," Walk said of Medlin. "Those kids are hard to find."

The team chemistry throughout the season has been positive, in large part to the positive attitudes of the sophomores, Walk said.

"I have never been around a group of kids that get along as well as they get along, the team chemistry here, if you could bottle it, you could sell it to a lot of coaches throughout the country because we have got team chemistry," Walk added. "They don't bicker back and forth, I've never been around a group of girls that didn't bicker."

Three Rivers was within five points at the 10:34 mark in the second half after a 3-pointer by Mitchell made it 52-47, but the Lady Raiders couldn't stop the inside baskets from the Lady Trailblazers.

Lewis & Clark scored two straight baskets to get back up nine at 56-47 with 9:17 left. Lewis & Clark's largest lead in the second half was 14 with 5:37 left in the game at 66-52. The Lady Raiders scored just four baskets with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game as they went on to lose by 10.

Lewis & Clark hit 63.8 percent (30-of-47) from inside the 3-point line.

"Easy inside post baskets, we went to that 2-3 zone because they weren't going to make enough 3s to beat us, their strength was their inside play," Walk said. "For whatever reason, we didn't guard that. We worry about one thing and someone would slip in behind us."

The Lady Raiders tried to implement half court traps and different presses through the second half but Lewis & Clark was able to handle all the different looks.

"You get down 10, you have to do something," Walk said. "We tried to mix up several different presses in there to keep them off guard."

Lewis & Clark jumped out to a 6-0 lead and less than 6 minutes into the contest, Gladys Wanyama made two free throws for Lewis & Clark to go ahead 16-4 at the 14:20 mark. A basket by the Lady Trailblazers' Yael Pelleg at the 12:48 mark put Lewis & Clark ahead 20-6.

"The real thing is the first 8-9 minutes of the game when we don't do anything," Walk said. "We just get out on the floor and don't play hard, don't take care of the basketball, don't make the shots we gotta make.

"That is either lack of focus or lack of concentration on the kids' part."

Notes: In their final regular season home games, Smith finished with eight points while Mitchell had six and Peet netted four. ... Three Rivers had 14 turnovers in the loss as compared to 18 for Lewis & Clark. ... Three Rivers had 18 assists and Lewis & Clark finished with 14. ... The Lady Trailblazers had 35 rebounds on the game as compared to 33 for Three Rivers. ... Lewis & Clark had 21 points off turnovers as compared to 16 for Three Rivers. ... Three Rivers had 12 second-chance points as compared to just eight for Lewis & Clark. ... Walk started all sophomores on the night with Peet, Medlin, Davis, Washington and Smith getting the nod.