By Mike Schlottman The Hastings Raiders girls basketball team dropped to 4-7 after they lost to the Simley Spartans on Wednesday evening. The game was originally supposed to be played at Hastings but …
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By Mike Schlottman
The Hastings Raiders girls basketball team dropped to 4-7 after they lost to the Simley Spartans on Wednesday evening. The game was originally supposed to be played at Hastings but was switched to Simley because they were unable to host the game earlier in the season due to water damage in their gym. The Raiders won their first matchup with Simley and no doubt the Spartans were looking to avenge their loss from back in January.
The Raiders opened play in a 2-3 zone most likely to neutralize Champ Danso who is a major threat in the paint. This plan was executed well until the Spartans were able to sink some three pointers and push their lead out to 12 plus points. The Raiders switched back and forth between a zone and man defense to try to keep the Spartans off balance, but the inability to get good shots up on the offensive end made it tough for the Raiders to keep up.
Senior guard Shea Levos got hot from the three point line, however, and sunk four in a row to bring the Raiders within striking distance. Going into half time, Simley led 30-22 and this game was well within range for Hastings. However, in the second half, the Raiders never seemed to get their offense in sync and a lot of missed shots and empty possessions allowed the Spartans to push their lead out even farther and keep Hastings at bay and ultimately get the win with a final score of 50-38.
Levos led all scorers with 14 points, Lilly Nuytten dropped in eight, Keagan McVicker and Maggie Schlottman each added four. The Raiders maintain fifth place in the conference behind Hill-Murray, Mahtomedi, Henry Sibley and Simley respectively.
With the win, Simley improved to 6-5. Laura Bosin led the Spartans with 11 points and Champ Danso added 10.
The Raiders are back in action on Friday at home vs. a tough St. Croix Lutheran team who is 8-3 and ranked 17th in AAA. Only one conference game remains and that will be the final regular season game of the year against Henry Sibley on Saturday, March 13th. The game against North St. Paul has been canceled and the makeup game against South St. Paul was never rescheduled.
