By Bruce Karnick

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The Raiders girls basketball team pummeled the Tartan Titans during the Snoweek spotlight game on Feb. 4. In all, 14 different players logged time in the 63-35 victory.

Hastings jumped all over the Titans from the start. A key piece to the victory was the smothering defense and fast-paced full-court press. Passes were flying all over the place, players were taking great shots. When they didn’t fall the first time, rebounds were grabbed. At the end of the first half, Hastings had the lead 39-12.

At halftime, members of the Snoweek court were honored as the final piece of the weeklong celebration.

Hastings came out firing again in the second half and quickly extended the lead. That is when Head Coach Sheri McLeod began resting her starters and gave her depth players some game time experience.

Lilly Nuytten led the Raiders in scoring with 22 followed by Hailey Strain and Keagan McVicker at 13 each. Kate Ruder and Rachel Notch each had four, Emma Bakker and Lindsey Wagner each had three and three players, Char Mitchell, Natalie Caflisch and Maggie Schlottman all had two.

On Wednesday, the Raiders traveled to Rosemount to take on the Irish. The final of that battle was 67-38 in Rosemount’s favor. Nuytten once again led the scoring, this time with 16 and Bakker was the only other Raider in double digits with 12.

At 12-7 overall and 5-3 in the conference, Hastings has six games left in the regular season and all games are currently scheduled to be 7 p.m. tips. Feb. 8 at North St. Paul, Feb. 9 at home against Two Rivers, then home against South St. Paul on Feb. 16. They head to Mahtomedi on Feb. 18, then come back home on Feb. 22 to host Hill-Murray. The final regular season game will be at Simley on Feb. 25.

Editorial Note: Special thanks to Seniors Maddy Daley and Mia Molitor for their quick study at sports photography. They wanted to see what it was like to take pictures of their friends playing basketball. They did fun job capturing the team, and this reporter was able to be a fan for a short while. Because they were passing the camera back and forth with the other being a spotter, they asked that photo credits go to both of them as we would never be able to figure out who took what. Sounds like a fair deal!

Mara Jackson entered the game late in the second half and ran the younger offense and defense well for Hastings. That helped Hastings maintain the lead they built earlier giving the Raiders a much-needed win over Tartan.Photo by Mia Molitor and Maddy Daley.