Chadron knocks off Sidney girls

For the Chadron Lady Cardinals the third time proved to be the charm as they finally took down the Sidney Lady Raiders 48-42 at Cabela's Athletic Facility in a non-district matchup Friday night.

By taking down a tough Mitchell Tigers team the following day, Sidney stands now at 15-7 on the season while Chadron is now at 17-6.

The Cardinals and Raiders first met in Scottsbluff at the Western Conference Tournament on Dec. 5 and Sidney won by a count of 38-31. Chadron was frustrated a second time in their own building 44-32 on Jan. 30. On this occasion, the Cards capitalized on Sidney turnovers to take an 11-point lead in the third quarter and held on to the end.

Though the Cardinals took the lead for good early in the second quarter, the Raiders made several runs at Chadron to get within a point or two, but never managed to get over the hump. While the Cardinals took their 11-point lead with 1:55 left in the third frame, Sidney pared its deficit down to five points after 24 minutes, 33-28.

Within nine seconds of the fourth quarter opening, Abby Heller had hit a three pointer that had many hoping this was again the beginning of the end for Chadron. But the Cardinals always had an answer when Sidney got too close. After the Heller bomb brought the score to 33-31, the Birds ran off four straight.

"All around we need to take better care of the ball," said Kelsey Knight who led the Raiders in scoring with eight points. "They're a really good team so we expect to have them give us this kind of an effort."

While the Raiders struggled with turnovers, Chadron's pressure defense was a large part of the reason. The Cardinals were chasing down the Raiders on every possession while taking regular swipes at the ball almost from the opening tip.

Though Sidney again fell back by as many as seven points midway through the fourth, the Raiders managed to narrow the gap back to a deuce on two occasions courtesy of Emily Mahr and Savanna Rosenbaum. But the Cards had the final answer by closing the game out with a 5-1 finish.

"We're going to have to clean up the plays before districts," Ashley Stafford said. "But we work well together so I'm sure we'll be fine."

As the Raiders struggled to catch Chadron late in the game, so too was there an early struggle to keep pace. While twice tied, Chadron was never behind over the first 7:52 of the game. It was not until Mahr shook the strings from three-point land with eight seconds left that the Raiders had their first lead of the game at 10-9.

Rosenbaum opened the second quarter with a driving layup and a three point lead, but Sidney soon found itself behind for good. The Raiders ended the half down by five at 24-19. The Raiders spent just under two minutes of the game in the lead.

In addition to Knight's leading total, Rosenbaum, Annalise Lecher and Mahr each added seven. Chandler Hageman (18) and Jadyn McCartney (15) paced the Cardinals' scoring attack.