Facing the challenge of bouncing back after losing their share of the district lead, the Randall Lady Raiders responded Friday night.
Three days after falling to District 4-4A leader (and No. 2 team in the state) Canyon at home, Randall took on the task of facing another Canyon ISD team in a fight for district positioning at West Plains. At the end of the evening, the Lady Raiders had held serve.
Randall never trailed against West Plains and wasn’t in serious trouble after the opening minutes, as the Lady Raiders cruised to a 51-29 victory. The win left Randall (9-14, 4-1 in district) in a tie for second as the first round of district play ends next week.
After a respectable effort came up short in a 53-38 loss to Canyon, the Lady Raiders just needed a shot of confidence against West Plains (8-15, 2-3), who was also looking to get into the thick of the district race.
“I was really proud of how our girls intentionally came back and tried to focus on their effort and growing in their play as far as offensively having more productive possessions,” Randall coach Brooke Walthall said. “That was something that we asked and I thought we did a good job of that.”
Randall doesn’t a have a single senior on the roster, so the Lady Raiders could be said to be a work in progress. At the very least, they appeared to be moving forward against the Lady Wolves.
Six players scored in the first quarter for Randall, who led by as many as 15 and was up 20-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Raiders were probably even more successful defensively, as they allowed only four field goals by West Plains and led 28-12 at halftime.
All 10 of Randall’s players who suited up scored even though only one, Alaina Garcia, scored in double figures, as she was the only player on either team to do so with 10 points.
“These kids are really just stepping up in different ways,” Walthall said. “I know when teams are getting ready to play us they’re trying to decide how to guard us and I do think it makes it hard when a lot of people can score. We’re really proud of how they’re moving the ball and creating shots for their teammates and trying to take the right shots.”
West Plains, meanwhile struggled to find any offensive rhythm all night and didn’t seriously threaten in the second half, as the Lady Raiders led by as many as 25 points. Dakota Montoya was a bright spot for the Lady Wolves, as she came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers in the second half to lead her team with nine points.
All four of Randall’s freshmen received significant playing time, which could explain why the Lady Raiders had a hard time with the pressure West Plains applied in the first half. Randall, however, was less erratic handling the ball in the second half.
“We have some young players,” Walthall said. “Some of our freshmen did have some turnovers and that was a problem, but there was some growth in them not having those same turnovers in the second half.”