SEDALIA, Mo. — The fourth quarter was kind to the Three Rivers women's basketball team on Sunday. The Raiders, ahead by two at halftime and five going into the final 10 minutes, outscored State Fair 36-19 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 95-73 win in Region XVI play. "The fatigue was a big factor in the fourth quarter for State Fair," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "That's the style we like to play to wear people down and were lucky enough to be able to do it (Sunday)." Bench scoring and depth was key once again for the Raiders (14-5, 2-1 Region XVI), who similarly outran Mineral Area in the second half on Jan. 4. On Sunday, the Three Rivers bench contributed 39 points, led by Brogan Jones who scored a season-high 10 points in just 9 minutes on 5 of 6 shooting, while also grabbing four rebounds and two offensive rebounds. "She was able to post up right at the rim and we were getting her the basketball and she was able to turn and score," Walk said. "We were able to get 22 points out of our post players yesterday and we are hoping that continues. "We're hitting enough 3s that we're able to spread people out now and that opens up the post play. Hopefully that is going to work out to our advantage."

The State Fair bench had just 15 points. Of its four bench players, only Laila McNeal got more than 10 minutes while three starters played more than 30 minutes. "The offense we run is a lot of miscellaneous movement from every different angle and they stopped moving with us," Walk said. "The defense wasn't there and they were there in the prior three quarters." Deanay Watson led Three Rivers with 20 points and six rebounds while Myia Yelder had 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting and five steals. Hannah Thurmon added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Nadia ThormanMcKey, who played 37 minutes, led the Roadrunners (6-12, 0-1) with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Darlisha Reed and Ryann Haynes each had 12 points and Connor Watkins added 10. Three Rivers next hosts Arkansas State Mid-South at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Libla Family Sports Complex in what will be the team's first home game since Dec. 12. Three Rivers has gone 3-2 since it last played at home. "Anytime you win games on the road is good. Granted, we didn't win them all but we played good competition," Walk said. "We have a lot of home games coming up and we got two of the hardest road trips out of the way. We've got another one Friday and then after that, everyone is coming to our place." 

Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic