Semoball

Lady Raiders vs. Mineral Area

Sunday, February 17, 2019
DAILY AMERICAN REPUBLIC/Nate Fields

PARK HILLS — The 16th straight win. The 10-0 home record. The No. 24 ranking in the country. The list keeps going, and now, the top seed in the Region XVI Tournament is added to it. Three Rivers overcame a huge run from Mineral Area in the third quarter to pull away from the Cardinals with an 82-68 win in Park Hills. The Lady Raiders had a 17-point lead in the third quarter before the Cardinals (19-6, 6-2 Region XVI) erased that and jumped ahead by a point with under a minute to go in the third. Hailee Erickson, though, showed her sophomore resolve with a huge sequence. “Every good basketball team is going to make a run, and Mineral Area is a good basketball team,” Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. “They’re not just going to roll over and quit playing. … You just can’t get excited, keep the kids calm, and like I told the kids, we weathered that storm and we came back in the fourth quarter. That’s great mental toughness.”