Hardwood Heroes
Raiders snatch victory over Buckeyes in a Senior Night Heartbreak
< < Back toBUCHTEL, Ohio(WOUB) – It was senior night in the Ben Wagner gymnasium as the Nelsonville-York lady Buckeyes welcomed River Valley and celebrated three prominent seniors in Kyleigh McWilliams, Airah Lavy and Kalina Hernandez.
It was a high stakes conference game for these two teams and River Valley would ultimately take this battle by a final score of 53-48 Raiders.
This game was intense the second the first quarter began as Airah Lavy got things started with a deep three from the volleyball line. Junior Alayna Okulich was a force on defense for NY grabbing eight rebounds and three steals. The game headed into the second quarter with a score of 16-9 Buckeyes.
River Valley came out hot from beyond the arc in the second quarter knocking down four threes immediately. The Nelsonville-York defense could not be stopped and offensively it was the same story. The score was 33-20 Buckeyes heading into halftime.
The Raiders came clawing back in the third quarter using a fierce full court press to close the scoring gap.
Okulich continued her defensive run finishing out the third quarter with 14 total rebounds. River Valley took their first lead of the night with a buzzer beater three to enter the fourth quarter with the score being 41-39 River Valley.
Energy was at an all-time high for the Raiders after the third quarter buzzer beater, and the fourth quarter would put the final nail in the coffin for NY. Consistent turnovers and poor shot selection by the Buckeyes would lead to a senior night loss at home with a final score of 53-48 River Valley.
NY Head Coach Mark Truax said that although the team was prepared for the Raiders in the first half of the game the Buckeye’s no-good turnovers snowballed in the final stretch of the game resulting in the loss.
Both these teams will play on Monday as Nelsonville-York will look to redeem themselves on in a big conference matchup against Wellston, while River Valley will travel to Racine to take on Southern.