RAIDERS FALL IN REGION FINALS

The Lady Raiders hosted the MVP Titans last Thursday night in the Region Finals game to advance to the SoDak 16. It would become a physical affair that would take its toll on the Raiders later in the game. MVP would hold a 14-11 advantage after the first quarter and then a 27-17 halftime advantage. The Raiders would cut the lead to 5 trailing 27-32 and then would only score 1 point in the 4th quarter to be defeated 49-28. Macy Koupal would lead the Raiders with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists. Hayden Fischer would finish with 6 points and 4 boards. Braxton Nedved would also finish with 6 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. Ashlyn Koupal would finish with 4 points, 10 boards and 3 blocks. Aniyah Fields and Lydia Yost with each finish with 2 rebounds. Unfortunately for the Raiders the rim wouldn’t be very nice as they would shoot a season low 21% from the field hitting 9-41 shots while the Titans would go 19-51 for 37%. Wagner would out rebound the Titans 32-26. Wagner would commit 16 turnovers to 8. “Not the ending we wanted but in the overall grand scheme of things it was a great season to finish 19-4. The physicality that was allowed took it’s toll on us later in the game. We had a hard time knocking down shots from the perimeter as they challenged almost every attempt. We struggled attacking the basket and when and we did get the ball inside were draped with hands everywhere. It’s a little odd when you have post players that can make great passes when doubled or tripled and between our 4 kids that played inside they had a combined of 2 assists where we average nearly 12-15 per game. We are proud of how our kids competed giving the circumstances that were dealt. We can only control how hard we play and our kids played hard. Seniors, it’s been a blast being able to coach you for the last 6 years at the high school level. It’s pleasing to coaches to see what kind of people you have become not only on the basketball court, but just people in general. We wish you the best of luck and you will be missed. For the underclassman, there are still days of high school left for you and many more opportunities for you to make your mark as a player, student, and member of the Wagner Community. How you decide to do that is entirely up to you? Best of luck to all the spring athletes! Go Raiders!”