Lady Raiders hold on, turn back MAC upset bid at end

PARK HILLS — The Three Rivers College women’s basketball team showed Saturday night it can win a nailbiter when it has to.

The Lady Raiders blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, but bounced back when it counted to take a 63-59 win and turn back an upset bid by the Mineral Area Lady Cardinals in a Region XVI contest.

Three Rivers (16-2, 3-0 Region XVI) led just 44-40 late in the third quarter when Laylah Reese hit two free throws with 23.9 seconds left in the period and Kaleigh Thompson converted a three-point play with 8.3 seconds left in the third period for a 49-40 lead.

That run hit 11-0 with 8:57 left in the fourth quarter when Thompson drained a 3-pointer to stake the Lady Raiders to a 55-40 lead — their biggest of the game.

But Mineral Area was not done yet.

Reese’s layup with 5:28 left pushed the Three Rivers lead back to 10 points (59-49), but the Lady Cardinals (16-6, 1-4) answered with a 10-0 run, tying the game at 59 on an Ashley Buragas with less than two minutes remaining.

However, the Lady Raiders answered right back as Sydnei Marshall hit two free throws just six seconds later for a 61-59 lead.

The score still was 61-59 when Buragas went to the free-throw line with 3.9 seconds left with a chance to tie the game, but missed the first free throw and had the second waved off when she crossed the foul line before the shot. Thompson then hit two free throws at the other end with 2.6 seconds left to make it 63-59 and ice the game.

The fourth quarter was a microcosm of the rest of the game, which also was back-and-forth. Three Rivers led 18-11 after the opening period and pushed its lead to 27-13 on a Jasmine Davis jumper just inside the free-throw line with 5:21 left in the first half — but the Lady Cardinals closed the half on a 14-5 run to cut the TRC lead to 32-27 by the intermission.

The Lady Raiders won despite shooting just 36% from the field (22-for-61), thanks in part to holding a 42-28 edge on the boards and limiting Mineral Area to 38% shooting from the field (20-for-53).

Thompson led Three Rivers with 16 points, while Marshall added 12, Reese had 10, Kamille Brown adde eight and the duo of Davis and Lexi Weaver each finished with seven. Thompson pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Reese had nine to just miss a double-double, Brown had seven and Davis added six.

Madison Ayers led Mineral Area with 19 points, while Buragas had 11 and Karma Jones finished with 10. Buragas also had seven rebounds, while she and Presley Holweg each had three steals.

Three Rivers is back in action on Wednesday when it heads to Crowder for another Region XVI contest. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.