SEDALIA, Mo. - In their second game in two days, the Lady Raiders found themselves in a barnburner and put up 181 combined points, the most in any Three Rivers game this season.
State Fair got the best of Three Rivers in the second half and won 94-87 on Saturday.
"These were two tough road games. Last year was the first year we had ever won both of them," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. " I'm finally glad that our back to back games are over with so the rest of the year we've got one or two games a week. Hopefully we will be able to go on a little bit of a run."
Three Rivers (13-7, 1-2 Region XVI) was down by 14 with seven minutes left when Chappel stepped into a 3, then drew a foul and completed a three-point play, cutting the State Fair lead to six points after a minute of play.
Three Rivers nearly picked off another turnover with its press, but was called for a foul. The Lady Raiders committed another foul on the same possession, putting them in the bonus with more than six minutes left.
Soon after, Kaifes caught a long pass against the press and scored through a hard foul that sent her careerning across the floor. Her free throw put State Fair back up by 10.
With 90 seconds left, Erickson putback a missed layup to cut the lead to eight. State Fair got a free throw and Erickson sank a 3.
"They expended a lot of energy tonight to get back into this thing. We had a pretty good talking at half and came out with a whole lot more intensity. - Hopefully we can build on that and play four quarters instead of two," Walk said.
The Lady Roadrunners (9-8, 1-0 Region XVI) then got called for traveling. Erickson tried another 3 that would have made it a one possession game, but missed and Three Rivers didn't get any closer in the final possessions.
"I think the second half we played as good of a half we played all year long," Walk said, adding that Three Rivers lost by seven because it didn't play with the same intensity in the first half.
Three Rivers scored 32 points in the first half before opening things up more in the second.
Chappel led the Raiders with 21 points on 7 for 20 shooting. DeNayia Holmes had 19 points and Hailee Erickson sank four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Alex Kohler came off the bench for 16 points.
While Three Rivers grabbed 14 fewer rebounds than State Fair, both teams had 11 second-chance points.
The box score was largely similar for both teams, except for free throws.
The Lady Raiders were 15 for 30 at the foul line while State Fair was 31 for 39 (79.5 percent).
"We were able to cut into that by getting out and extending the pressure," Walk siad. "They made free throws down the stretch and we didn't. That was the difference in the game. If we got 25-30 (free throws) that is probably a win."
Markeia Porter, Kohler and Casey Douglas all finished with four fouls and another four players had three.
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic