After taking two losses out of three games during the past weekend’s Bank of Grandin Thanksgiving Tournament at Three Rivers, the host Raiders and head coach Brian Bess will go back to work in preparation against more tough competition and the looming Region 16 slate.

With a 5-6 record that is chalk full of behemoths and those close enough to be considered scary teams, Bess is tryinag to flesh out what his squad needs to take the next step.

“We’re trying to discover what we do well,” Bess said. “We’ve been able to get it really close in several games and we couldn’t get over the hump and figure out why we can’t.”

Bess said he wants to work on his men’s ability to guard the ball better as well as advance the collective toughness of the unit.

“We need to coach some of the guys harder and help them figure out what they do and don’t do well,” he said. “We need to stick to our strengths and try to hide our weaknesses. We are trying to figure out our roles and who we are as a team. We have had some really bright things happen for some of our guys and some of them have shot the ball really well lately.

“It’s a reward for all the extra shooting. It’s a great example for those who haven’t been working as hard.”

One thing that has helped is Bess is getting more contributions from outside of Hosana Kitenge and Jordan Hamilton who in the first half-dozen games seemed to be looking to make most of the big plays and take the big shots.

“We need to figure out in that we can do well going through Hosana against a man defense, but the last few games we have played against more zone, and he’s been more invisible,” Bess said. “I don’t know if that’s the design of the zone necessarily or something we have to figure out to get him more touches against zones.

“We need our guards to contribute, and they have been and so I am excited about that part of our growth.”

Lady Raiders adjust following holiday break layoff

Three Rivers women’s basketball started a new winning streak Tuesday with a tense, 78-70 win over visiting Vincennes University and so all may be trending back in the ways Lady Raiders nation has become accustomed.

Prior to the Thanksgiving break, the Lady Raiders (7-1) fell to Mineral Area College and saw the program’s 56-game regular season win streak end, but head coach Alex Wiggs has the team back on the wave after battling illness and a long break from each other.

“We haven’t practiced since I have been sick and the kids went home,” Wiggs said before the Vincennes win. “We only practiced three times, but we were really getting after it. We talked about what we need to get better at and what we need to focus on – like going over our press and understanding our matchups.

The end of the streak comes after battling through two unbeaten regular seasons and a nice run to end 2019-20, and with some luck and a lot of talent it was Pleasantville.

Now, it is trying to get back to that in its own right.

“Our focus is to not overthink – we have a really talented group,” Wiggs said. “We have to trust ourselves and trust our teammates.”

Wiggs said he hasn’t really thought about the streak ending and more on the team getting better.

“People have talked to me about it and you don’t realize it is happening in the moment,” Wiggs said. “Now that it is over, you don’t realize how cool it is and how special it is under after this season is over. It’s cool to hear people in the community, fans and other coaches talk about that and how special it is.

“It makes you realize how blessed you and the program has been the last few years.”

Wiggs said that winning many games comes hand-in-hand with going into every game expecting to win with good preparation.

“If we do our job, we give ourselves a chance to win every game,” he said. “That’s all you can ask for. I haven’t thought about before the games that we lost, we had to be perfect to win. We just have to be relaxed and disciplined.”

What impresses Wiggs is the fact the team has averaged wins by margins in the 20-30-40 point ranges which sells just how dominant the run has been.

“We have selfless kids that have put the program and their teammates above their own needs,” Wiggs said. “They just bought in.”

Alan Dale - Daily American Republic