The girls’ hoopsters finished the regular season 14-12 overall, earning the fourth seed for the section tournament where they played host to the Park Wolfpack. Hastings won the first-round game 58-42, advancing to round two against the number one seeded Eastview Lightning. The Eastview game was almost an exact mirror image of the Park game with Hastings losing 58-44.
Versus Park
The game against Park of Cottage Grove started much closer than the Raiders expected it to. Tenley Nelson of Cottage Grove started the game on fire. She was so accurate with her three-point shots, you would think her nickname was Hawkeye. Nelson single handedly kept Park in the game with 23 points. That did not phase the Raiders at all, they stuck to their game plan and took a 31-26 lead to the intermission.
Hastings pulled away in the second half thanks to the Raiders village showing up huge in this game with Kate Ruder, Rachel Notch, Jillian McTague and Haley Strain combining for nearly 40 rebounds, and the Raiders swarming defense shutting down Park. The Wolfpack shooters were clearly frustrated most of the game thanks to the quick nature of the Raiders defense. Hastings ultimately won the game 58-42.
Keagan McVicker led with 18 points; Strain had 12 plus her team leading 16 rebounds. Notch scored nine along with her seven rebounds, Ruder contributed eight points along with 10 rebounds. Overall, it was a solid night for the Raiders.
At Eastview
The script flipped on the Raiders almost exactly against Eastview. The first half was a lot of back and forth and Hastings took a 27-25 lead into the break. That is when Eastview flipped everything and came out on fire.
The Lightning started draining every shot they took, and their defense kept the Raiders frustrated and away from the rim. Eventually, they slowly crept away from Hastings on the scoreboard and no matter how hard Hastings tried, they just could not overcome the Lightning’s swarming defense. The Raiders fell 58-44 ending their season.
Strain led in both scoring and rebounds, recording 19 points and 12 rebounds. McVicker scored 13 while grabbing five rebounds, Violet Schult scored eight points with four rebounds, Notch and Ruder both had two points with Notch grabbing eight rebounds.
Hastings graduates six from this team, Haley Strain, Keagen McVicker, Rachel Notch, Kate Ruder, Evelynn McGree and Alyssa Leos.