Lady Raider 'D' freezes Torrington

Sidney's Lady Raiders used in-your-face defensive pressure to open the Cabela's Holiday Basketball Shootout with a 51-21 win over Torrington, Wyo. Wednesday.

Sidney denied Torrington many chances at the basket throughout the contest, forcing nearly a dozen turnovers in the first half alone.

The Lady Raiders also got off to a bit of a slow start, scoring just nine points in the first quarter. Senior Annalise Lecher accounted for all but two of those, scoring Sidney's first seven points. Her first bucket came off of an offensive rebound, followed by another when Sidney forced a turnover and Lecher closed the transition by parting the net.

Meanwhile, Torrington didn't score its first points for nearly nine minutes, kept off balance by the Raiders' defense, coupled with shots that just wouldn't fall.

"We did okay," Sidney Coach Tyler Shaw said following the game. "We played a lot of people and that helped us."

Sidney used a mixture of platoon and individual player substitution to give his players a chance to work back into their pace following the holiday break.

With the strategy, Sidney got nearly even production out of its players. None scored in double digits, being led by Lecher and Mattie Johnson, both with nine points, and Meaghan Ross' eight. Kelsey Knight and Allison Nesbitt had six points each.

Shaw was happy with Sidney's performance, especially coming off the break, handling Torrington's press with a "pretty solid press offense.

Sidney was scheduled to face one of its toughest so far this season, playing Laramie, Wyo. last night.

Shaw said in looking at the Laramie game, he expected a tough test against an experienced team.

Torrington 0-5-8-8-21

Sidney 9-18-13-11-51