The Lady Raiders didn't need to rain in shots to win Friday. The offense just needed a sprinkle, a light mist, a passing drizzle. It would have been enough. Instead they had one too many scoring droughts that lasted one too many possessions and lost 58-55 to Wabash Valley Community College in the Lady Raider Classic at the Bess Activity Center. Wabash Valley also beat Three Rivers by three points in Mt. Carmel, Ill., on Nov. 4.

"He went to that 2-3 zone and we didn't handle it very well. The kids didn't handle it very well and the coaching staff didn't handle it very well," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "That's part of the reason we stayed (90 minutes) in the locker room after the game." Down five with 30 seconds to play, Three Rivers raced the ball up the floor and found Camdyn McDaniel for a 3. It was the Lady Raiders' fourth field goal of the fourth quarter, two of which were McDaniel 3s. The Lady Raiders (2-2) needed to commit three more fouls to put Wabash Valley (4-0) in the bonus and 10 seconds evaporated in the process. Three Rivers, down 3 with less than 10 seconds on the clock, got the ball to McDaniel, who missed a corner 3 at the buzzer to force overtime. "I knew I was going to have to take the last 3. As soon as I caught it, I was ready, but when I shot it I knew it was off. I was upset," McDaniel said.

Working out of shooting slumps has been an issue of late for the Lady Raiders. After shooting 54 percent from the field in a blowout win to open the season, Three Rivers shot 39 percent in its first meeting against Wabash Valley and then 32 percent against John A. Logan on Tuesday. Nine players are averaging more than five points on this deep roster, but of those only forwards Markeia Porter and Jalisa Smith are shooting better 50 percent from the field. Ge'Naisha Robinson has led the offense so far this season with 18 points a game and got another 15 points against the Warriors. Three Rivers didn't make a field goal in the final 8 ½ minutes of the second quarter Friday and didn't score at all in the final 6 minutes of the first half. In the process the Lady Raiders' 7-point lead, their largest of the game, turned into a 1-point halftime deficit.

"We just started putting our heads down and when the ball doesn't go in, that's usually when we have to start encouraging each other to keep shooting and just not put your heads down," McDaniel said Both teams put up at least 20 points in the third quarter and the Lady Raiders went into the fourth down three. McDaniel, who hit three 3s and finished with 12 points, and Robinson got early buckets that tied it up, then the Lady Raiders went scoreless for 3 minutes. Wabash Valley didn't fare much better. When Robinson drove for a layup with just over 3 minutes to go, Three Rivers' third field goal of the quarter, she cut it to a onepossession game. Another 3-minute drought followed, interrupted by a stray free throw from McDaniel, and then she sank a late 3 to set up the final exchange. "It is a process and we all want it sooner than later," Walk said. "We want to be really good right now and we're going to have to go through games like we had (Friday)."