South Range exacts its revenge on ITCL rival

(10) Mckenzie Pfeifer of South Range glides to the hoop as (20) Crystal Richards goes for the block Thursday night.
Lowellville 82
Wellsville 49
Next: Lowellville at Southern, Monday, 7:30 p.m.
Next: Wellsville at E. Liverpool, Saturday, 2:30 p.m.
By Tom Williams
Hanoverton
Ten days after a 23-point loss to the United High girls basketball team, South Range found its inspiration by reading the newspaper.
“It feels so good, especially reading what they said in the paper and how cocky they were,” said Raiders senior Samantha Smith said after Thursday’s 52-43 victory on the Eagles’ court. “It feels really good to just come back and beat them.”
The win puts South Range (14-2, 9-1 Inter Tri-County League Tier One) back into a first-place tie with United (12-4, 9-1). Both have four league games remaining.
Smith, who scored 11 points and four rebounds, credited senior point guard Mckenzie Pfeifer for inspiring the Raiders.
“She was penetrating their zone, she made great passes, she told us to relax,” said Smith of Pfeifer who scored 18 points.
Pfeifer said the difference from their 61-38 loss at home was ball control.
“Last week, we were just throwing the ball around and being careless with it,” said Pfeifer who expressed relief now that the Raiders control their destiny as far as a league title goes.
“We knew at the beginning of the season that we had a shot at it,” Pfeifer said. “Now, we have to finish out the season but we’re definitely not letting our heads down now.”
The Raider and Eagles were in a tug-of-war for most of the first half. But 3-pointers by Pfeifer and Tab Stanton helped the Raiders engineer an 8-2 run to close the second quarter with a 26-19 lead.
Most of the third quarter was a disaster for Eagles as they watched the Raiders jump out to a 42-22 lead.
But four free throws by Ruth Prosko launched a surge for the Eagles who sliced the lead to 42-34 with an 8-0 run to start the final quarter.
“We had it down to eight then we did what we did for most of the first half — we threw the ball away,” United coach Roger Zeigler said. “They made a steal and scored. We made a good run but we couldn’t sustain it.
Zeigler credited South Range coach Wayne Johnson for switching to a zone defense that frustrated his players.
“What we didn’t do was attack,” Zeigler said. “We made some bad passes that they intercepted and scored.”
Crystal Richards scored 12 points to lead the Eagles. Prosko scored 11 and contributed seven rebounds, six blocks and three steals.
For the Raiders, Stanton and Gab Naples each scored eight points while Emily Seman pulled down nine rebounds and blocked a shot.
“We played the most fundamental basketball that I’ve seen this team play,” Johnson said. “We played aggressive and it was a great atmosphere. I think we played up to their level today.”