CASPER, Wyo. — The second quarter has been good to the Three Rivers College women's basketball team much of this season. So it should be no surprise that held true once again for the Lady Raiders in their NJCAA Division I national tournament opener Wednesday.
Three Rivers held the Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs to just five points in the second period to take control of the contest and take a 73-64 win at the Ford Wyoming Center.
"I'm really, really proud of the girls," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said. "I thought we battled and I thought we competed, so I'm just really, really proud of the way that they performed (Wednesday) for 40 minutes. It's one of those that it's tough to do. There are 16 teams left in the country, so we've got to lock in and get prepared for (Thursday) and try to make it to the elite eight."
TRC led the entire game, but began to take the throttle of Wednesday's contest in earnest late in the opening period, taking a 25-18 lead on Kaleigh Thompson's 3-pointer from the wing with three seconds left in the first.
After a bit of a scoring lull midway through the second quarter, Three Rivers got going again as Jasmine Davis's jumper with 3:41 left in the opening half made it 33-22 and ignited a 9-1 run to close the half.
Da'Kariya "Lia" Jackson added a transition layup roughly one minute layer stretched the lead to 35-22, then another Davis jumper with 2:11 left in the half pushed the lead to 15 points, forcing a MGC timeout. Bramiya Johnson's free throws with 35.1 seconds remaining before halftime capped the run and sent the Lady Raiders to halftime ahead 39-23.
"What's crazy about that (second) quarter is I felt like we did a great job defensively, but we also left about 10 points out there just by (missing) give-me shots that we usually make," Wiggs said. "But I'm really really proud of the defensive effort and our girls locking in on that end of the floor
and … limiting them to one shot attempt was, I thought, the key in that quarter."
Jackson's triple with 8:27 left in the third period pushed the Three Rivers lead to 44-27, but the Bulldogs did not go away. MGC went on a 9-1 run midway through the third to cut the TRC lead to 49-42 on Evans' basket with 3:35 left in the session.
However, the Lady Raiders regrouped to end the quarter, ending the third on an 11-4 run which was capped by another Jackson trey in the period's closing seconds, making it 60-46 going to the fourth.
Laylah Reese's free throws with 6:10 to go gave TRC its biggest lead of the game at 65-46, but the Bulldogs scored six points in a row to cut the lead to 13 points and force a timeout just 81 seconds later.
MGC used another 6-0 spurt to cut the Lady Raider lead to 69-61 with 90 seconds to go, but Kamille Brown's 3-point shot bounced in with 1:25 to go and make it 72-61 — and effectively ice the game.
"The girls kept their composure even though we had some silly turnovers and even though we did some silly stuff," Wiggs said. "They got stops when we need to get stops and we got big-time baskets there late by kids that have made plays all year long."
Jackson paced Three Rivers with 16 points, while Thompson added 13 and Davis had eight. Davis also had seven rebounds, while Jackson dished off six assists.
Je'Mya Evans led Mississippi Gulf Coast with a game-high 21 points, while Simaru Fields added 17 and Tytiana Buckley had 13. Evans also had 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Fields recorded five steals.
The Lady Raiders (28-4) will take on Shelton State at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in the national tournament's round of 16.
"They're good," Wiggs said. "Their guards are really, really good and really, really talented. We're going to have to make sure that we control the tempo and make sure that we control the boards because their (power forwards and centers) do a great job — and their guards do a great job (too) — of rebounding and crashing the boards.
"So we're just going to have to make sure that we're physical, that we know the scout and then how we're guarding each kid and what we're trying to do defensively."
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic