After Friday night’s big road win over Lumberton — a victory that catapulted the Richmond Senior women’s basketball team into a first-place tie in the Southeastern Conference with the Lady Pirates — Lady Raiders interim coach Nellie Harrington was concerned about a letdown Tuesday night at home against Pinecrest.

No worries.

Richmond (16-2 overall, 8-1 SEC) got out to a 15-4 early lead and led by as many as 28 in a 66-42 win over the Lady Patriots.

Stifling full-court pressure led to three quick turnovers out of the gate, which the Lady Raiders were able to convert into easy layups. Richmond led 15-6 at the first stop.

The Lady Raiders went on a 7-0 run to start the second stanza, again capitalizing on several Pinecrest turnovers to blitz their way out to a 22-8 advantage.

Pinecrest cut the Richmond lead back to 10 at 22-12 with 3:29 left until intermission. But back-to-back trifectas by Demi Watkins and Tiffani Holland got the Lady Raiders out to their biggest lead of the night at 28-12.

Leading 33-21 midway through the third period, Richmond broke the contest open. An 8-0 spurt resulted in a 41-21 advantage.

The Lady Raiders pushed out to a 28-point lead at 58-30 with about five minutes remaining. Harrington pulled the starters, but Pinecrest scored six quick points.

That ended the respite for the Richmond starters.

“Pinecrest likes to sneak back into the game if you let them,” Harrington said. “We weren’t going to let them.”

The Lady Raiders lost starting guard Shaquitta Covington at the 4:58 mark of the first quarter to an undetermined knee injury. Covington went to the basket, was fouled, and landed hard on the floor.

Harrington said Covington will have the knee checked out today.

Senior Selena Bright stepped in for Covington.

Richmond got balanced scoring, with three players in double figures. I’teionna McLaughlin led the way with a career-high 17 points.

Watkins added 16 and LaShey Brown chipped in with 14.

Harrington said the Lady Raiders’ defensive intensity was key Tuesday night. On offense, she said the Lady Raiders stuck together, and it showed.

“We played great team basketball tonight,” Harrington said.

On a night when the referees weren’t blowing the whistles too often – neither team got into the bonus all night — Richmond made the most of its few foul-line chances.

The Lady Raiders shot 9-of-13 from the charity stripe.

Richmond now gets ready for Friday night’s regular-season finale at home against Scotland.

It will be Senior night at Richmond.

Contact sports editor David Vantress at 997-3111, ext. 14 or via email at dvantress@yourdailyjournal.com.