Sidney girls were close against Omaha Gross, ready to face Longhorns on the road

Three games into the season, the Sidney High Lady Raiders have established a defense that is strong most of the time, but can be even suffocating on occasion.

A unified defensive effort held a powerful Omaha Gross Catholic offense to just 42 points in the Western Conference Tournament final last Saturday.

Fortunately for the Lady Raiders, their next opponent – the Chase County Longhorns don’t pose nearly the same offensive threat as Omaha Gross did.

The Longhorns have one true scoring threat in sophomore 5-foot guard Destiny Reinke, who is averaging 14.5 points while shooting 54 percent from the field and 33 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Reinke will be a focus for Sidney’s defense.

“She’s (Reinke) little but she’s really quick,” Shaw said. “She’s a good guard and a good athlete. She gets out and runs and is difficult to contain full court – we’re typically a full court team. If we can keep her to her left hand, that will be key.”

Sidney’s defense, which is particularly strong in the backcourt with several athletic guards, is a great matchup against the Longhorns. Sidney has been excellent at using active hands to get into passing lanes, but has struggled at times to contest shots consistently.

Shaw says improved ball security and movement will be paramount against the Longhorns.

“We’ve tried to put an emphasis in practice on taking care of the ball and running against more zone looks, since Chase County typically runs more zone than man,” Shaw said. “We’re going to have to increase our ball security and definitely do a better job getting shots each possession.”

Tip off for the Lady Raiders’ game is 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Sidney returns home to take on unbeaten Sterling (Colo)., which is 3-0 this season, at 5:30 p.m.