Lady Raiders dominate after halftime to down Moberly

The Three Rivers College women's basketball team overcame a slow start and an inconsistent first half to put together a convincing team effort in the second half for another Region XVI win.

Leading by just six points at halftime, the Lady Raiders dominated once the intermission ended on the way to an 87-57 win over the Moberly Lady Greyhounds Saturday at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

The win runs Three Rivers' winning streak to 10 in a row. The Lady Raiders' last loss came on Nov. 30 to Trinity Valley down in Texas.

“I'm glad we finally finished the game,” said Lady Raiders coach Alex Wiggs. “We've been struggling as far as just not hitting on all cylinders, but I felt like that second half, we played more our style of basketball.”

Kaleigh “KT” Thompson led the Lady Raiders in scoring with a game-high 24 points. While teammate Lexi Weaver scored 15.

Moberly’s leading scorers were Jeanie Scott with 18 points and Calise Chisholm with 17.

The game started out even on the scoreboard, but Three Rivers made several unforced errors on both ends of the court, missing shots, turning the ball over, and allowing Moberly to make uncontested layups, leading Wiggs to call time out at 6:03 in the first to settle his team down, trailing 11-10.

Whatever Wiggs said, it had the intended effect, as the Lady Raiders went on a 10-0 run to take a 20-11 lead at 3:52 remaining in the first. But poor shooting, fouls and turnovers by Three Rivers allowed the Lady Greyhounds to cut into that lead 20-16 with a minute left in the quarter.

The Lady Raiders only managed one free throw after their earlier run, leading 21-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Three Rivers’ shooting woes continued in the second quarter, with the team missing on multiple 3-point attempts as Moberly’s defense kept the Lady Raiders out of the paint. Lexi Weaver finally connected on a 3-pointer at the 5:35mark to give Three Rivers a 28-20 lead.

The Lady Raiders finally got the ball under the hoop as Thompson hit back-to-back layups to push their lead to 32-22 with 2:33 left in the half. From that point, Moberly scored the only additional points and trailed 32-26 at halftime.

“Credit to Moberly, they're the only team in the region that really plays the zone,” Wiggs said. “I think it was just that, deciding which shot’s a good shot. The biggest thing of that first half is I felt like we weren't necessarily shooting with confidence. We weren't shooting it in rhythm.”

Three Rivers tightened up its game on both ends of the court in the third quarter, scoring in the paint with patient passing and frustrating Moberly with its defense to take a 46-32 lead halfway through the period.

The Lady Raiders kept the pressure on the Lady Greyhounds, outscoring them through the back half of the third quarter 14-6 for a 60-38 lead going into the final frame.

Three Rivers found its range from behind the 3-point line in the fourth quarter, outscoring Moberly 27-19 to secure a 30-point Region 16 win.

“We looked more like us than we did in that first half,” Wiggs said. “The first half, we couldn't guard anybody, we couldn't make a shot, and it hard to watch. But that second half, I thought we locked in defensively. I tell them all the time, if you lock in defensively and do your job, the offense will take care of itself.”

The Lady Raiders are back in action Monday when they host Crowder in another Region XVI contest. Tipoff time is set for 5 p.m.