South Range shoots down Wildcats

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

Bri Modic believes she has to take on an expanded role within the South Range girls basketball team. Modic stepped into that role quite well in leading the Raiders to an 83-68 victory at Struthers in Northeast 8 action on Monday night.

Modic tallied 23 points – 15 from beyond the arc – in a Raiders’ offense that didn’t appear to be able miss.

“I just realize it’s my senior year now and I have to step up and take on the role of becoming one of the main scorers and getting others involved as much as I can.”

South Range (5-2, 3-1) was 32 of 58 (55.2 percent) from the field and 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

“It did (seem like we couldn’t miss),” South Range coach Tony Matisi said. “We hit every offense we know tonight. We were trying to get away from their bigs and spread the floor. We went to some offenses where we had four out and one in and we were trying to get to the hoop and kick it back out. We had confidence. Hitting those shots early gave us confidence.”

A conventional 3-point play from Lexi Giles and a 3-pointer from Modic put the Raiders up, 19-13, with just more than a minute to play in the first quarter.

“We were patient and we communicated well,” Giles said. “We saw the open people. We prepared for them. We wanted to drive and try to kick.”

South Range closed the first half on a 7-2 spurt and opened the second half on a 9-2 stretch to take control.

“Our bench did a great job in the last four minutes of the second quarter,” Matisi said. “We had Bree [Kohler] and Izzy [Lamparty] on the bench and they extended the lead to 12, 41-19, at the half. I’m very happy with that.”

The Wildcats (3-3, 2-1) struggled to stop the South Range attack all night.

“Even when we had good help-side defense, they knocked shots down,” Struthers coach Bill Neider said. “When we were trying to make a run, they’d make a shot. They did a good job spreading us out and knocking down shots.”

With the Raiders hitting shot after shot, frustration mounted for the Wildcats.

“We kept talking and telling the girls to keep working, [South Range] was going to start missing,” Neider said. “It can be frustrating. We were trying to focus on that one possession and trying to get a stop, then a bucket. Give (South Range) credit. They put the ball in the basket.”

Modic’s 23 points led the Raiders, but Giles added 18, Lamparty and Kohler each had 14 – with Lamparty getting a double double with 10 rebounds. Marlaina Slabach connected on three triples for nine points.

Heike Kaurschill netted 23 points off the bench to pace Struthers and Trinity McDowell added 16 second-half points.