Picture - Emily Starkey moving the ball on offense vs Chapman
Many people in the community as well as students in the high school may know that the Varsity Lady Raider Basketball team at the high school is 6-0 and #1 in 4A right now which includes a win over #2 ranked Holton. What most may not know is the JV Lady Raider Basketball team is also undefeated this season but that they have done it by playing man to man defense every second of every game and have done it in comeback style. The JV Lady Raiders started out the season against Rossville and up until the end of the 3rd quarter did not lead in the game. With intense full court defense the team was able to come back to win the game. They very next night the girls actually had their easiest game of the season so far against Holton’s JV girls. They hit the first shot of the game and raced out to a 12-4 lead in the first quarter and copied that in the second to lead 25-11. In the second half the girls only managed 6 points but their defense and good offense in the first half still carried them to a 31-27 win. In the third game against Nemaha Valley the girls trailed the entire game until the fourth quarter. Again the girls used their full court man defense to storm back to a 4 point win in the closing seconds. Against Chapman in the fourth game of the season the JV Ladies trailed in the first half until a made shot before the half to tie the game at 27. The third quarter started off slow for the Wamego girls and trailed by 6 almost 2 minutes in. It was then again the girls amped up the defense and managed a 4 point lead by the end of the third. In the fourth, the game was back in fourth but the four point lead plus a jump shot by Alexis Pettay pushed the girls to a six point win over Chapman.
In the 5th game of the season against Clay Center our girls got behind early and trailed the whole first half, only managing to state within 7 points of the Tigers at half time. Things didn’t improve in the third quarter with Clay Center hitting some tough shots and pushing to a 33-21 lead by the end of the third. But in between the quarter is where things started to change. Coach Morton told the girls, “now it’s our turn to have a big quarter, you will have a 20 point quarter and win this game, but you have to do it with great defense first” the quarter began a little slow but Maddie Vontz drove into the lane for a 2 point shot to get the girls going. With stellar full court defense the girls were able to turn over Clay Center time after time. This enabled Kasey Holle to hit 3 three pointers and another one by Alexis Pettay. Free throws by Anna Stratton and Jennifer Griffitt pushed our girls into the lead. While some may not thought it was possible to come back from 12 points in the 4th quarter the girls used their defense and some hot shooting to outscore Clay Center 19-1 in the quarter to win the game 40-34.
The last game before the Holiday break brought the Centralia Panthers to town. Again the girls trailed most of the game but managed to fight back and tie the game by the end of the third quarter. To start the fourth Centralia took a quick 4 point lead. With defense again and Maddie Vontz driving into the lane the girls fought back to win the game by 2 points.
This brought the JV Lady Raiders record to 6-0, 2-0 in league play. Team Members include: Emily Starkey, Anna Stratton, Michelle Wahl, Emmy Landis, Kentin Brummet, Kaylee Myers, Alexis Pettay, Kasey Holle, Jennifer Griffitt, Brooke Woodward, and Maddie Vontz.
