This game was a lot closer in the first half with the J.V. Mustangs down two at 10-8 with 3:04 left in the first.
But from there the Raiders went on a 7-2 run to close out the first period.
“South Robeson came out and played with a high level of intensity in the first period,” J.V. Raider Head Coach Donald Pettigrew said. “They played hard and when I took the timeout at the three-minute mark I told the guys that they had to step it up.”
Step up their efforts is exactly what they did.
The J.V. Raiders put up 22 points in the second, 11 in the third, and 21 points in the fourth.
All that while holding South Robeson to five, seven and seven points in the second through fourth periods respectively.
B.J. Cooke proved to be very effective coming off the bench for the Raiders, scoring a team-high 12 points. Jalen McDonald added nine points.
“The run that we started in the second period was the deciding factor in the game,” Pettigrew said. “When you come out flat like we did in the first five minutes a lot of times you will find yourself down. Fortunately we were able to turn things around.”
While Pettigrew was pleased with the team’s effort tonight, there are still things that he would like the team to work on.
“We have to get better at boxing out, and help defense throughout the game,” Pettigrew added.
The junior squad will have four days to work on fine tuning their game as they prepare to welcome Union Pines to Raider Gymnasium Tuesday night, looking to beat the J.V. Vikings for the second time in two weeks.
J.V. Lady Raiders 45, South Robeson 28
Earlier, the J.V. Lady Raiders were looking to get back on track after suffering a loss to Union Pines earlier this week.
That’s exactly how it panned out on Friday night as they toppled South Robeson.
Turnovers played a key part of the offensive push for the Lady Raiders, but they had 30 turnovers themselves, which rarely leads to a victory.
“We had some issues tonight controlling the basketball,” Head Coach Vicky DeFrate said. “We took the ball from South Robeson a lot but we also have to work on keeping the other teams from stealing the ball from us.”
While it was an impressive performance by the junior Lady Raiders, they did have some issues running their offensive and defensive sets at times in the matchup.
“We really didn’t get into a situation where we could execute properly in our offensive and defensive game plan,” Coach DeFrate said.
“Our press defense worked really well tonight, but when it coming to defending in a man to man situation we need some fine-tuning on our fundamentals.”
Kayla Ewing played a strong game in the post racking up 10 points in the paint for the Lady Raiders, and also recording one block and two defensive rebounds.
Brandi Favrot provided a rebounding presence opposite Ewing with three defensive rebounds of her own.
The J.V. Lady Raiders will have some time to fix their issues with the turnovers and execution before they welcome Union Pines to RSHS to try and avenge their loss last Tuesday.
Contact sports reporter Travis Anderson at 997-3111 ext. 44 or via e-mail at tanderson@yourdailyjournal.com.
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