Sidney Stopped by Elkhorn South

Sidney's Lady Raider basketball team was defeated 51-to-37 by the Elkhorn South Lady Storm on Thursday in the first round of the NSAA State Tournament at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

The Lady Raiders end their season with a 22-and-4 mark, a District Championship, and their third straight trip to the state tournament.

Unfortunately, the Lady Raiders were eliminated in the first round for the third straight time by a battle-tested Lady Storm team that basically played a Class A schedule until the Subdistrict tournament. The Lady Storm entered the State Tournament with a 12-and-13 record and were seeded eighth, drawing the number one seeded Lady Raiders. The Elkhorn South squad had a significant size advantage, and featured junior Rylee Gray, the 6' 4" volleyball and basketball standout.

Prior to the game, Sidney head coach Tyler Shaw believed the Lady Raiders would be successful if they could exert enough defensive pressure to disrupt the Lady Storm's rhythm on offense, and get good looks on offense and make their shots consistently through the contest. The game started as to plan, with the Lady Raider defense playing close and the Lady Storm missing on their first two possessions.

A three-point hit by Sidney senior Meaghan Ross followed by an Elkhorn South turnover that Sidney junior Mattie Johnson converted for two points put the Lady Raiders up 5-to-0 in the early going. Gray got the Elkhorn South squad on the board by hitting a three pointer, then after Sidney senior Janay Brauer missed a three point attempt, the Lady Storm fed the ball back to Gray who put up two more points to tie the game at 5-to-5 halfway through he first period. Coach Shaw substituted his players early and often, changing up schemes and defensive alignments to keep the Lady Storm off balance.

Both teams had trouble scoring through the end of the quarter, with Elkhorn South turnovers limiting their opportunities, while the Lady Raiders had multiple shots swatted away by Gray in addition to misfiring on their field goals. The period ended in an 8-to-8 tie, with Rylee Gray accounting for seven of the Lady Storm's eight points.

The second quarter started with Brauer on the bench with two fouls, and a series of Sidney turnovers and missed shots that put the Lady Raiders into a 14-to-8 hole a few minutes into the period. Sidney junior Nicole Birner finally stopped the Lady Storm's momentum with a three point shot to narrow the deficit to 14-to-11, then after Elkhorn South put up another two points, Brauer re-entered and buried a three pointer to narrow the lead to 16-to-14.

The Lady Raiders continued to battle, and after hitting a free throw, senior Katelyn Sylvester found a hole in the defense for two points to put the Sidney girls ahead 17-to-16. After junior MJ Johnstone hit a free throw, the Lady Raiders were up 18-to-16 as the second quarter started to wind down. But Elkhorn South clawed back, with Gray sinking two free throws to tie the score, then after a Brauer three point miss, Gray responded again by sinking a three pointer of her own to give the Lady Storm a 21-to-18 lead.

Elkhorn South added another two points, and Sidney set their offense for a final play before the half, but Johnstone was unable to convert on her layup attempt, and left enough time for Elkhorn South sophomore Cami Smalls to bury a three pointer at the buzzer, putting the Lady Storm up 26-to-18 at the half.

The third quarter started with the teams matching each other's scores, but Sidney fell behind mainly by not converting on enough of their free throw opportunities. Gray continued to block shots and not let the Lady Raiders get any easy chances inside, and the Lady Storm started to pull away.

The third quarter ended with Sidney behind 38-to-27, and the Lady Raiders went into the fourth quarter needing to quickly pick up ground while stopping the Lady Storm's offense. But Sidney's difficulties scoring continued, with the Elkhorn South squad contesting every shot while their height advantage took away the Sidney inside game. Nearly half of the quarter elapsed with the only score coming from one Lady Storm free-throw, when Ross hit a two point shot to make the score 39-to-29.

The Sidney defense could not make a stop, and Smalls hit another three pointer to move the score to 42-to-29. Off a steal, Brauer went the entire distance of the court but missed her layup, and the Lady Storm were able to fire right back for another score of their own to increase the lead to 44-to-29. After Smalls hit another three pointer to drive the score to 47-to-29, Sidney was running out of time and had to start to foul. Sidney was able to score another eight points in the final minutes, but Elkhorn South made enough of their free throws to hold off the Lady Raiders and ended the game with a 51-to-37 victory, and the Lady Raiders were eliminated from the tournament. Juniors Mattie Johnson and Nicole Birner led the Sidney scoring with 11 and eight points respectively, while Birner knocked down five of her eight free throw attempts.

After the game coach Shaw said, "We did a good job limiting Gray and (Elkhorn South sophomore) Ziemkiewicz's touches. We limited Gray to just two points in the second half, but they had a couple of players step up and hit some threes.

Smalls had three three pointers in the game, two in the fourth quarter. We put them on the free throw line too many times and they knocked them down."

He addressed Sidney's inability to score inside, saying, "Scoring on the inside became very difficult once they kept Gray under the basket. She's 6'4" and has really good timing for blocking and disrupting shots."

Shaw talked about the efforts his seniors put in all year, saying, "The seniors did such a good job of taking ownership of this year's team. They contributed in so many ways on and off the court, and it will be difficult to replace what they've brought to the team. But I think we has some talented younger players that will welcome the challenge and do a great job next year."

Shaw was named head coach of the Red Team for this year's All-Star game in July.

He said, "I am honored that I was selected. It's always a fun atmosphere at that contest and I'm looking forward to being a part of it."