Sidney Girls Fall to Chase County, Boys Rally for Win

MIKE MOTZ

Sidney Sun-Telegraph

The Red Raider boys and girls basketball teams are fully in swing in this new season, and on Friday, December 13, 2024, the Lady Raiders had a case of the Friday the 13th yips, as their offense struggled and they had difficulty at the free throw line.

The Lady Raiders had a rough first half against the Chase County Lady Longhorns, with their offense misfiring and the Chase County girls able to get clean looks at the basket, converting for points. The Lady Raiders' struggles continued onto the charity stripe, sinking just one free throw out of nine in the half.

Trailing 26-to-19 to open the third quarter, the Lady Raider defense shut down the Lady Longhorns and Sidney finally started getting some good looks as they went on a 12-to-0 run to take a 31-to-26 lead with about three minutes left in the quarter. But the Lady Longhorns regrouped and went on an 8-to-0 run of their own, to end the quarter up 34-to-31. The Lady Raiders could not recover their offensive momentum in the fourth quarter and fell to Chase County by a final score of 50-to-43. Kierra Schrader led the scoring for Sidney with 16 points.

The boys game started with Sidney starting strong as senior Landon Riddle drained a three point shot to open the scoring, and junior Keian Kaiser putting up 10 points in the first period. Chase County was able to sink three, 3-point shots on their way to taking a 15-to-13 lead at the end of the first period. Chase County kept up the momentum in the second quarter and held a 35-to-32 lead at the half.

Both teams struggled to score in the third period, but Sidney went on an 8-to-0 run to open the fourth quarter, seizing the lead, and Chase County could not regroup, giving the Red Raiders the 55-to-43 win. Kaiser led the Raiders' scoring with 24 points.

On Saturday, the teams were back in Sidney hosting the Yuma Outlaw teams. The girls' game started as a defensive struggle, with Sidney ending the first quarter up 10-to-6. The battle continued into the second period, with Sidney's defense limiting the Yuma offense, and the Lady Raiders working hard to score. The Lady Raiders took a 19-to-13 lead at halftime.

Sidney's offense got on track in the third period while their defense continued to stymie the Yuma offense. Although Sidney was ineffective from long range, they built up a 13 point lead, 34-to-21, at the end of the period. The fourth quarter followed a similar path with the Sidney offense scoring while the defense shut down Yuma, and Sidney came away with the 52-to-27 victory. Senior Kayla Westby led the scoring with 11 points.

The Sidney boys entered into a challenging match- up with Yuma, the top-ranked 3A team in Colorado. The game started with Sidney taking a lead, before Yuma bounced back, taking a lead of their own. The play was physical, but both teams were able to get under the boards and score. The score was knotted at 18-to-18 at the end of the first quarter. Sidney again took a lead in the second quarter, then Yuma tied up the game and the teams traded baskets through the quarter. Sidney went into the halftime break with a 35-to-31 lead.

In the third quarter, Sidney extended their lead, before Yuma came back to tie, then go up on the Red Raiders. But the Sidney boys fired back to re-take the lead, only to see Yuma match the Sidney scoring, leaving the Raiders with just a one point advantage, 51-to-50, going into the fourth quarter. Sidney had a great fourth quarter, going on a 15-to-3 run to leave the Outlaws behind, and ended with a 73-to-64 victory to remain undefeated. Junior Alek Doty led the scoring for Sidney with 17 points, while the Red Raiders had four players in double-digits for the night.