Season concludes for women’s basketball

Photo by Jesse O. Walls, Photographer Lori Kleier, freshman #22 general studies major, keeps the ball away from two Mineral Area players during a Feb. 15 home game.

Photo by Jesse O. Walls | Photographer
Lori Kleier, freshman #22 general studies major, keeps the ball away from two Mineral Area players during a Feb. 15 home game.

Ryan Land
Sports Editor

After facing Mineral Area on their own court in the opening round of the Region 16 tournament on Feb. 25, the Lady ‘Riders basketball season came to a close with an 81-59 loss to the Lady Cardinals in Park Hills, Mo.

“We were disappointed in our performance,” said Tina Robbins, head women’s basketball coach and physical education instructor. “We felt like we had been playing better the last three to four games and the way we played against Mineral Area was not how we had been playing.”

The loss comes after the team scored two wins out of the final five regular season games. One of those wins dates back to Feb. 15 at home. Ironically, it was Mineral Area the Lady ‘Riders were facing, as they came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat the Lady Cardinals, 67-64.

“We fought a lot harder in the second half of the [Feb. 15] game here than at Mineral Area,” Robbins stated. “We had a lot more turnovers in that second game than we did when they played here.”

The Lady ‘Riders finish their season with an overall record of 10-20 and a 3-8 record in Region 16 play.

As the team goes into the off-season, Robbins and the coaching staff have been focused on meeting with each player to go over what individual skills need to improve for next season.

“Each player individually has certain skills that they’re going to have to develop,” Robbins stated. “We’ve sat down and met with each of them, so in the postseason, we will work on those individual skills that need to get better in order to make our team better.”

Post-season awards were given to Ariana Gallegos, freshman #24 general studies major, and Dorian Briggs, sophomore #5 general studies major, as they were named to the All-Region 16 team. Gallegos was named to the 1st team, while Briggs was named as an Honorable Mention.