RAEFORD — It wasn’t a blowout like the last time it went up against Hoke County, but the Richmond girls basketball tema did what it needed to do Tuesday evening to complete the regular-season sweep of the Bucks.
Sophomore forward Jakerra Covington notched a team-high 14 points, sophomore guard Jayla McDougald scored 13, junior guard Allexis Swiney added eight, and the Lady Raiders held on for a 55-42 victory on the road.
The conference battle was a little bit closer than what the final score shows, but the home team was forced to foul down the stretch and Richmond did a decent job of converting from the foul line.
As a team, the Lady Raiders ended the night with a dozen made free throws.
McDougald hit a team-high five from the charity stripe to lead the way. Covington, freshman guard Allyiah Swiney and senior guard Taliah Wall each knocked down a pair from the line. Allexis Swiney made one of her FT attempts.
Richmond (10-10, 6-5 Sandhills Athletic Conference) played from behind for the majority of the first quarter until Wall took over, scoring six straight in the final two minutes, to help her squad tie things up at 17-all heading into the second stanza.
Wall’s solo run coupled with seven points from Covington led Richmond’s early scoring effort.
Hoke (9-12, 3-8 SAC) played steady enough in the second frame to take a two-point lead, 28-26, into the half. Kiya Locklear, Simone Benton and Nilsa Glaize combined for 19 of the Bucks’ first-half points. Locklear ended the night as the game’s leading scorer, pouring in 16 points for the home team, while both Benton and Glaize finished with six.
The Lady Raiders picked up their defensive pressure in the second half, setting up in their familiar full-court zone press, and quickly took the lead for good in the third quarter — following McDougald’s putback off of a missed layup.
Locklear opened the final stanza with a triple, which brought Hoke within three points, but Allexis Swiney answered with a long-range bomb of her own on the ensuing possession to push the Lady Raiders back ahead by six.
And that was the closest the Bucks got for the rest of the night.
Richmond looks to get above .500 when it hosts Lumberton on Friday.
Richmond’s Jakerra Covington (22) celebrates with Allexis Swiney (14) and Layne Maultsby (23) following Swiney’s layup through contact in the fourth quarter of the Lady Raiders’ 55-42 win at Hoke County.