Sidney girls shrug off slow start, down Gering

 If there was any doubt that a pair of late first-half field goals by Sidney Lady Raiders' Annalise Lecher and Emily Mahr on Friday night were the enough to put the locals ahead for good, Maddie Stafford made sure when the second half opened.

Powered by an 18-4 run that spanned two halves, the Raiders went on to post a 37-27 win over district rival Gering at the Cabela's Athletic Facility to earn their fourth consecutive victory.

The win advanced the Raiders record to 13-6 on the eve of their rematch with District B-6 leading Scottsbluff. The Lady Bulldogs saw their record slip to 5-14.

Throughout their weekend of district play, the Raiders were beset with a rash of illness to its roster. Though no players failed to dress for either game, head coach Tyler Shaw made frequent substitutions to keep his players fresh.

"Several of our players have been very ill with influenza, strep or whatever," Shaw said. "I wanted to play the kids in shorter spurts to keep everyone fresh and healthy."

While much of the first half was played in see-saw fashion with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage, the Raiders were the first to break the pattern. The Lecher and Mahr layups in the final 90 seconds of the first half gave Sidney the first four-point advantage of the game.

When Stafford's three ball shook the strings from their halftime slumber, the Raiders were on their way to blowing the game open. Though Sam Rahmig scored a two pointer in answer to Stafford, it would be only one of two field goals the Bulldogs would sink in the third eight.

Another 3-2 exchange followed a Mahr hit from downtown before Sidney scored the final six points of the third for a 28-16 lead. The final stretch began when Vanessa Riley bounced a sharp inbounds pass to Savanna Rosenbaum under the basket for a quick two.

"There was a real change in momentum after the first half," said Stafford. "I'd say since Christmas we've just been sharing the ball so much better. I feel like there are so many on this team that are capable of scoring and that makes it harder to defend us."

By opening up the final eight minutes on a 6-0 run, the Raiders had established an 18 point lead at 34-16. Gering recovered sufficiently well enough to close to final gap to 10, but never seriously threatened after the opening half.

"At the beginning I think it was just a matter of our shots not falling," Mahr said. "But we were playing good defense so they weren't scoring either. It was a tough game with a lot of us under the weather but we kept being aggressive and our shots started to fall."

Kelsey Knight was the only Raiders's player that managed to score a field goal in the first period. She rang up her first deuce by converting an Ashley Stafford pass. Her second gave the Raiders a brief 5-4 lead. With a free throw, Maddi Porter was the only other Raider to record a point in the first stanza as the Raiders trailed 6-5 at the first buzzer.

There were three ties in the second quarter before the Raiders broke the final deadlock with the Lecher and Mahr hoops for a 16-12 halftime advantage.

"I'm looking for us all to come back healthy for the final few games of the season," Rosenbaum said.

The balanced Raiders' offensive attack was led by Maddie Stafford with 10 points with Knight and Mahr recording nine each.