ROCKINGHAM — With the regular season coming to an end, the Richmond Senior girls basketball team faces a three-game week virtually needing a win in each contest to keep its postseason hopes alive.
Second-year Lady Raiders coach Teddy Moseley didn’t mince words after team practice on Monday concerning the importance of the upcoming slate, all of which come against teams within the Sandhills Athletic Conference.
“We don’t want to be on the outside looking in like we were last year. The main thing is, we got to take care of business against 71st.”
Richmond (13-8, 4-7 SAC) comes into Tuesday’s matchup at the Lady Falcons (16-5, 10-2 SAC) on the proverbial playoff bubble, pegged as No. 51 in the latest Adjusted MaxPreps Rankings that determine the postseason field of 48 teams.
The good news for the group is that they ended a three-game losing streak in dramatic fashion the last time out, posting its most impressive effort of the season in the 70-22 home win over Hoke. But that was last Tuesday, and because of inclement weather, the group hasn’t practiced since Wednesday.
A concerned Moseley spoke to what his goals were during Monday’s practice in hopes of regaining the momentum and, more importantly, timing from the previous victory.
“With that long layoff, I’m sure they didn’t pick up a basketball,” he said candidly. “The main thing is to try to get them up and down the floor and get some rhythm back.”
Keionna Love is the team’s top scorer who he hopes will still be in rhythm. The guard showed no signs of rust following her game-high 19 points against the Lady Bucks, draining 3-pointers consistently during full-court scrimmages.
Moseley expects the Lady Falcons to give Love their undivided attention in the rematch after she led a comeback attempt in the eventual 37-30 loss last month.
He added that scoring is the highest priority thinks junior forward Jakerra Covington will have to have a signature game on both offense and defense.
“I think No. 22 (Covington) is going to have to be the catalyst tomorrow. She’s going to have to make it happen,” said Moseley.
Covington is fresh off another double-double performance, scoring 11 points and hauling in 13 rebounds against Hoke.
Meanwhile, fellow junior starter Jayla McDougald added 17 points against the Lady Bucks and is expected to help Love with the scoring load.
Freshman guard Kyla Sampson was a player Moseley also pointed to as a possible offensive threat. He says Sampson needs to display more confidence in her outside touch in order to break out of a recent slump and help the group through the all-important stretch.
The Lady Raiders will also be trying to reverse some recent misfortune as they haven’t defeated Seventy-First during Moseley’s tenure and the program hasn’t got a win against the Lady Falcons since 2009.
“It’ll be huge, man…Tomorrow would be the perfect time to get that monkey off our back,” said Moseley.
Wednesday, the group travels to Lumberton, where it will try to down the Lady Pirates on their home floor for the first time since 2014. Then, the marathon week ends Friday, when Richmond hosts rival Scotland.
“These three games are going to make our season, and it starts tomorrow,” said Moseley.