The Raider girls’ basketball team finished the week strong to stop a two-game losing streak in its track on Friday and moved to 9-7 on the season and 4-1 in the conference. They currently sit one game behind North St. Paul, who they beat earlier in the season. North has one more conference game under their belt currently which gives them the lead in the Metro East Conference.

The Raiders started their week on Monday at Cretin-Derham Hall (CDH), who currently sits in the middle of the pack in their section at 78 overall. Cretin played a very limited bench against the Raiders and the stats show only five players that contributed to the CDH offensively. Conversely, Hastings had a strong rotation of 10 players contribute to the game. Unfortunately for Hastings, that did not seem to matter at the start of the game. Cretin grabbed the lead and ran with it, recording a 42-23 start to the half.

This is where things took an interesting turn. These Raiders do not give up easily, and they work together as a team, picking each other up and staying positive. It is rare to see finger pointing for the mistakes. They own their own and everyone else picks them up. They did just that in the second half and Hastings dominated, holding CDH to 20 second half points. Hastings came back to within one and ultimately fell, 62-59. It was a strong showing of perseverance and fortitude by these 10 young ladies.

Keagan McVicker led in points with 21, Haley Strain had 17 and Emma Bakker netted 11. Strain had the rebound lead at seven and Lindsey Wagner led with three assists.

Mahtomedi sits at 8-5 on the season and is currently in third place in the section. The decisive 14-point win against the Raiders does give them the tie breaker if they can catch Hastings in the standings.

The first half of the game at Mahtomedi was a backand-forth affair and the two went to the intermission at 31-30 in favor of the Zephyrs. For the second half, shots were dropping for Mahtomedi, and they were not for Hastings. Hastings ended up committing 26 turnovers to Mahtomedi’s 16. Those points off turnovers were the difference in the second half. Mahtomedi won the hardfought game, 77-63.

Bakker had the points lead with 20, followed by McVicker at 19 and Strain with 10. McVicker led rebounding with 10 and assists with seven.

Two Rivers came into the final contest of the week at 411 on the season and Hastings took it to them. The Raiders held Two Rivers to 14 and 11 points in the halves for a total of just 25. Hastings has developed into a normally stout defensive team and the Raider offense scored 48 against the Warriors.

McVicker once again had the point lead at 16 with Bakker just behind her at 14. Four other Raiders contributed points. Bakker led the rebounding category with 11 and McVicker snagged nine.

Hastings played host to Hill-Murray on Tuesday after press time so we’ll have that recap next week. The Raiders will be on the road the next three games. First, a trip up Highway 52 to Simley on Jan. 26 at 7:00 p.m. then a trip to Northfield on Jan. 31 for a 7:15 p.m. tip against another Raider team, and a trip to Tartan on Feb. 3 to take on the Titans at 7:00 p.m. Hastings will return home to host North St. Paul on Feb. 7, also at 7:00 p.m.