Roughriders soar past Eagles for pre-holiday victory

BARTLEY - In a contest it trailed much of the night, the Southwest girls basketball team clamped down the visiting Southern Valley Eagles in the second half and came back for a 48-42 victory Tuesday.

Southwest improved to 4-4 this season, while Southern Valley fell to 5-4.

The Eagles jumped out to the lead in the first, scoring 17 in the opening quarter to build a 17-11 edge after eight minutes.

They maintained a 29-23 lead at half after going up by as many as eight.

Southern Valley scored first in the third, but the Roughriders began to chip away, slowing the Eagles with more intensity from their zone defense and limiting transition opportunities. Southwest meanwhile used a number of ball-screens to get free runs at the rim. The Roughriders closed within 39- 38 heading to the fourth.

The final quarter became a rock fight as neither team could generate much offense. The critical juncture came with five minutes left when the Eagles’ leading scorer, Ann Bose, tried to draw a charge on a transition layup from Southwest’s Caylin Barnett. Bose was called for a blocking foul, fouling out with 21 points.

Barnett would knock in a pair of free throws to knit the game at 41 and the Eagles managed just a single free throw the rest of the way.

Southwest still struggled to gain separation. More free throws from Barnett, who scored 19 and was 8-11 at the line, gave the Roughriders a 43- 41 lead, but the scored stayed the same until a transition layup from Bryn Lampe pushed the margin to 45-41 with 90 seconds left.

Bailey Truksa scored 14 for the Roughriders and Krista Best added eight for the Eagles.