The Superior Express -

What a difference a week can make.

After starting off the basketball season with a pair of wins in the opening games, the Lady Raiders ran into a couple of quality teams this past weekend. They played one of them real close, but got beaten well in the second game. L-N now stands at 2 and 2.

The game summaries:

L-N – FRANKLIN: 34-38: Most every basketball game has its own identity and this one had several.

The first hallmark of this game was a person could have been lulled into a nice little nap at the beginning. Franklin scored first and Emily Miller and Emma Epley answered those points and it seemed both teams packed in a pretty tight defense not allowing a lot of scoring. However, that feeling of well-being was soon changed when early in the second period, the Raiders realized Franklin had more than doubled the scoring for L-N.

L-N came to life on defense in the last three minutes of the second period, holding Franklin scoreless for the final three minutes of the period to keep the game from getting away.

The second hallmark of the game occurred at the charity stripe. The Raider defense kept Franklin from any scoring from the field early in the third period. However, the free throw line was another question. All of a sudden the officials felt they needed to call fouls on L-N and Franklin responded with hitting 5 of 9 in the third period to retain their lead.

Free throws . . . they can make or break a game. In the first 7 minutes of the fourth period Franklin had the opportunity to put the game away at the free throw line. However, in that time period, they made only 3 of 16 and that allowed L-N to chip away at Franklin's lead. With 15 seconds left in the game Avery Mazour made a 3-pt. shot from the side of the basket closing the score to 34-37. L-N forced a turnover, but then also gave up a turnover with two seconds left in the game.

Franklin made 16 of 34 free throws, not exceptional, but they provided the victory margin and then some. L-N had only 15 free throw attempts in the game.

(Scoring, rebounds, assists): Tori Miller 0, 2, 1; Emily Miller 14, 10, 0; Aleah Heikkinen 2, 4, 1; Avery Mazour 5, 1, 0; Emily Troudt 0, 1, 0; McKenzie Ostdiek 0. 0. 0: Emma Epley 9, 9, 1; Katelyn Mazour 2, 7, 2; Alex Miller 2, 1, 0.

L-N: 34, 35, 5; Franklin: 38, 28, 6.

Three points shots: L-N 1-11: Avery 1; Franklin: 2-6.

Free throws: L-N 5-15; Franklin 16-34.

Fouls: L-N 24; Franklin 17.

L-N vs. BDS: 28-60: The trip to play Brunning-Davenport-Shickley (BDS) on Saturday did not turn out nearly as well as hoped for. The power house BDS team jumped out to an early lead and allowed only Emily Miller and Emma Epley to score a total of three points for L-N.

The Raiders had a slight uptick in scoring in each period after that, however, BDS had a major increase, controlling the game throughout the final three periods.

Emily Miller was a leader for the Lady Raiders this week scoring a double-double: 13 points and 10 rebounds. The team totaled 12 of 21 free throws for the game.

(Scoring, rebounds, assists): Tori Miller 2, 0, 0; Emily Miller 13, 10, 1; Aleah Heikkinen 2, 4, 0; Emily Troudt 0, 0, 0; Avery Mazour 1, 2, 1; McKenzie Ostdiek 0, 0, 0; Emma Epley 6, 5, 2; Katelyn Mazour 4, 2, 3; Alex Miller 0, 1, 1.

Three points shots: L-N 0-3; BDS: 4-13.

Free Throws: L-N 12-21: Emily M. 5-7; Aleah 0-2, Avery 1-2, Emma 4-8, Katelyn 2-2.

Game to come: Dec. 18, Friend High School at Nelson: 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:30. Dec. 22, at Shelton: 4:30, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30.