South's 27 points leads Three Rivers past John A. Logan

Three Rivers freshman Deanay Watson (1) attempts a layup against John A. Logan defender Alicia Hornbuckle during the first half of Tuesday's game. Watson scored eight points.

DAILY AMERICAN REPUBLIC/Nate Fields

Whether at home or on the road, the Lady Raiders have been too much for John A. Logan to handle this season.

After a 93-74 win at John A. Logan on Nov. 17, the Lady Raiders throttled the Lady Volunteers 87-57 Tuesday at the Bess Activity Center.

The Lady Raiders were balanced offensively with every player in uniform scoring at least a point. Freshman Katelyn South led all scorers with a season-high 27 points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes in her most complete game of the season so far.

“(South) has had a couple in the 20s, but tonight, she shot the ball really well,” coach Jeff Walk. “She’s got active hands; she can shoot the ball; she can make free throws. It was just a great performance.”

South didn’t see her performance coming. Her shots weren’t falling in the pregame warmups, but she found her groove at the perfect time.

“In warmups, my shot was completely off and I was getting so mad, but I don’t know, I guess it worked out,” South said.

Freshman Jordan Little knocked down four triples on her way to 17 points and five assists.

The common theme in Three Rivers’ successful games has been defensive tenacity. The Lady Raiders brought that on Tuesday as the full-court press forced turnovers and allowed the hosts to run in transition and get easy layups. Little showed a perfect example of that tenacious style of play in the third quarter when she deflected two passes and got on the ground for a loose ball less than a minute into the half.

“Effort wins ballgames. That’s not changed since elementary, junior high, high school, college, or even pro,” Walk said. “If you put forth effort, good things will happen to you. They understand that, and they’re going to sacrifice little bangs and bruises, you know, getting on the floor just for the team. That’s great to see.”

South had a knack for finding the ball all game. In the third quarter after a missed free throw, she snuck up behind a much bigger ZaKyra Stallworth and ripped the ball right from her hands and dished it to Lana Reed for a layup.

“Coach yells at me quite a bit to get up and stay up, so that kind of keeps me motivated to stay up on defense and it helps me get more steals when I’m up,” South said.