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Raiders remain perfect in rout
By Greg Gulas
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
As the South Range girls basketball team continues its assertion on the Inter-Tri County League’s Red Tier, they’ve slowly and methodically aligned themselves with White Tier bully Jackson-Milton as the area’s only remaining unbeatens.
That changes on Monday when the two teams meet at the Bluejays’ gymnasium in a league intra-division clash.
While the Raiders were riding a 25-point second quarter Thursday to a 64-41 victory over the Crestview Rebels, the Bluejays easily outdistanced rival Lowellville 50-21 as both rolled to their ninth consecutive victories.
The win was also the 399th of South Range head coach Tony Matisi’s career.
Maddie Durkin scored 19 points, Morgan Czopur added 15 and Lynnie Ritter had 12 to pace the Raiders.
“We like to play up-tempo and that’s why we play our defense so tight. Steals and turnovers ignite our offense,” Matisi said. “While the defense has set the pace for us the first five or six games, it has been our offense setting the pace the last three or four times out and that’s a great feeling from a coaching standpoint.”
When asked about the prospect of facing Jackson-Milton in an undefeated elimination game, Matisi didn’t hesitate to praise the Bluejays’ quick start and the strength of the ITCL.
“With only two undefeated teams remaining in the area and both being members of the ITCL, I think that speaks volumes about the strength our league this year,” Matisi said. “We talked about this in the locker room for the very first time after tonight’s game. We’ll utilize Friday and Saturday as days to walk through their offense and defense and just keep preparing for Monday’s game.”
The Raiders started the game with a 10-3 run, utilizing Durkin’s six points and five more by Marketta Gabriel that staked South Range to a 17-13 advantage after minutes.
“We’ve been much more focused the last couple of games at both ends of the court,” Gabriel said. “The key has been an aggressive defense, then pushing the ball up the court to set up our offense.”
Eight points each by both Durkin and Czopur, as well as a stringy defense that held the Rebels (5-4, 0-1) to just six points helped South Range open a 42-19 halftime cushion.
“South Range is a great team and you have to give Tony and his staff the credit because they do a great job with their players,” Crestview head coach Rick Gates said. “Their biggest strength is that they have seven or eight solid players and a great mix of guards to go along with their inside players, who are very talented and tough to defend. When you make an adjustment, they adjust to you and that’s what makes them so very tough to beat.”
A triple by Taylor Naples in the third quarter helped the Raiders open a 56-24 margin before settling for a 58-29 lead with one period remaining.
“As a first-year starter, it’s really an amazing feeling to be one of just two area teams still undefeated after nine games,” Naples said. “We’re a team that works hard and remains focused whether we’re on offense or defense.”
Haley Eskra had nine points and Emily Ferris added eight to pace the Rebels. Both teams had 20 turnovers in the contest.