By Mike Schlottman

The Hastings Raiders girls basketball team had a difficult assignment Tuesday night: take on the number two ranked team in 3A. This ranking is according to Minnesota- Scores which ranks teams based on QRF. If you want to understand more about what QRF stands for and how it’s calculated, I highly suggest you visit their website www. minnesota-scorest.net. It’s not gospel but it is a solid tool that coaches and fans alike use to get a sense of where their team and other teams compare to each other.

In any event, it is safe to say that this “Hill” was going to be a tough climb for the Raiders, pun intended.

The 8-1 Pioneers came charging right out of the gate and jumped out to a quick 14-4 lead before the Raiders were forced to take a time out. Hill did not miss a shot during this run which included 4 three pointers. They continued that charge to get out to a 25-4 lead before the Raiders switched to a 3-2 zone which proved to give HIll-Murray some fits and caused a few turnovers.

The Raiders were able to get a three from Emma Bakker and then a layup from Avery Daley to close the gap to 25-9. Hill responded with a couple more baskets, but a bucket by Keagan McVicker and then a three point splash from Maggie Schlottman brought them to within 15 points.

“Our 3-2 zone allowed us to defend the perimeter taking away Hill’s ability to screen us to get their shooters open. The top of our zone guarded a space rather than an individual player,” Head Coach Scott Addyman said about switching to a zone defense, “Hill Murray is a fundamentally strong team, both mechanically and schematically. We switched to zone after Hill Murray drained five three’s with the recommendation from senior captain, Shea Levos,” Addyman said.

However, Hill was able to go on a mini run to end the half and push the lead back out to 23 with the score being 37-14.

In the second half the Raiders continued to run a zone defense which limited the Pioneers’ looks and helped to force some turnovers. Hill resorted to some ball control offense and good clock management which also limited the amount of Raider touches. Hastings, however, showed that they were capable of playing with them, only getting outscored 24-23 in the second half. However, Hill-Murray’s giant lead in the first half provided for more than enough of a comfortable lead for them to play with and they ended up winning 61-37.

All together, the Pioneers had 10 three pointers in the game with four each coming from their two high scorers, Bella Hartzel who ended with 20 points, and Lilli Mackley who ended with 21.

Freshman Bakker led the scoring for the Raiders with eight points, Lilly Nuytten added seven and Schlottman poured in six points.

“Last night was truly one of our better games as a team this year. The girls were able to execute changes both offensively and defensively and our girls showed their respect for the game, playing hard until the final whistle,” Coach Addyman summed up the game by focusing on the positives of playing such a good team.

He went on to say, “(this game) showed us the importance of a well-balanced rotation. We committed to playing until the girls were so tired they needed to pull themselves off of the floor. Against a high ranked 3A school our girls gave it their all and are excited for our match-up vs Mahtomedi on Thursday.”

The Raiders are now 4-5 in the conference and 4-5 overall with another huge conference game playing at number four ranked Mahtomedi (8-1) on Thursday night.