The more things change, the more they stay the same for the Three Rivers College women's basketball team.
The Lady Raiders began their quest for a sixth straight trip to the NJCAA Tournament with a 104-46 dismantling of the Olney Central Blue Knights on Saturday at the Libla Family Sports Complex despite a cast of mostly new faces.
"I was really happy with the way we started the game with the intensity and the physicality that we started with," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said after Saturday's contest. "Looking at the stats, the thing that stands out to me is that we had 21 assists on the night. Whenever you have 21 assists, it means that 1) you're being unselfish and 2) you're making open shots."
The Lady Raiders got a spark from Australian freshman Amelia Corasiniti, who scored the team's first seven points to give her team a lead it would never relinquish.
"Amelia was big for us tonight, especially to start the game," Wiggs said. "She was aggressive, which is what we need her to be. She was aggressive in getting downhill and attacking, which allowed her to knock down some shots. ... Amelia was really big for us in the halfcourt, got a couple of steals and also got in transition."
Three Rivers led 22-8 after the opening period and pushed its lead to 51-22 by the intermission as the Lady Raiders dominated almost the entire 40 minutes.
TRC also dominated on offense, shooting 54% (35-for-65) from the field and the same percentage behind the 3-point line (14-for-26). The Lady Raiders also committed just nine turnovers and had 11 steals as a team.
Corasiniti paced Three Rivers with 18 points, one of five Lady Raiders in double figures. Kiera Neal added 15 points, while Courtney Bluitt had 14, Caitlin Lord contributed 13 and Tristan Spearman finished with 10.
Lord also had nine rebounds to finish just shy of a double-double, while Neal and Kimora Wooden each had five rebounds. Spearman added six assists, while Corasiniti had four steals and Lord added a pair.
"The one thing that Tristan Spearman could really, really do out of high school was score the ball," Wiggs said. "She's taken the coaching and she's taken the advice as far as becoming a true point guard — score it whenever you're open, be aggressive and do those things, but also share the ball and pass it to who's open and do those things. ... I thought she was big tonight."
The Lady Raiders are back in action at 3 p.m. Sunday when they host Wabash Valley in a matchup of national powers. Both Three Rivers and the Lady Warriors are nationally ranked and both made it to the NJCAA Tournament.
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic