During the high school basketball season, playing just one game a week is something of a rare occurrence. However, it may have been a good occurrence for the L-N Lady Raiders. A little extra practice time is never a waste of time.

The girls entertained Friend High School on the home court in Nelson last Thursday and after a rocky start, played a good game. The game summary:

The first two minutes of the game looked anything but good. L-N gave up four turnovers in the first two minutes of the game, allowing Friend to score four points. However, L-N outscored Friend 15-1 in the last six minutes of the period. Something else a bit unusual was that the Raiders hit two, 3-pt. shots in that time. Elsa Jorgensen hit the first one to start the Raiders' scoring and Emma Epley hit the last one in this quarter not long before the buzzer. Friend's scoring in this period and throughout the game seemed to come on lay-ups on the right side of the basket.

Quarter 2: Friend again got off to a fast start in this period, and again the Raiders responded. Emily Troudt hit the third 3-pt. shot for L-N with about a minute left in the half. Two things stood out in the first half of play. First off, except for the first two minutes of the game, the Lady Raider defense was stronger than some nights. They forced at least 14 turnovers from Friend in the first 16 minutes of play. Secondly: in the last two games, L-N made 1 of 14, 3-pt. shots. In the first half of this game, they made three such shots.

Quarters 3 and 4: The last half of play pretty much mirrored the first half. L-N recorded the fewest turnovers of the year in this game. Emily Miller led all scorers with 22 points and recorded her third "double-double" of the young season, she also had two blocked shots to her credit. Aleah Heikkinen had nine points and eight rebounds. Scoring was spread out among the players, however, as Katelyn Mazour had eight, and Elsa and Emma each had six points.

(Scoring, rebounds, assists): Emily Miller 22, 12, 1 ; Aleah Heikkinen 9, 8, 1; Avery Mazour 1, 2, 1; Emily Troudt 3, 0, 0; McKenzie Ostdiek 0, 0, 4; Elsa Jorgensen 6, 5, 1; Emma Epley 6, 6, 2; Katelyn Mazour 8, 3, 0; Alex Miller 2, 1, 1; Sydney Biltoft 0, 0, 0.

L-N: 57, 37, 11; Friend: 34, ?, ?.

Three points shots: L-N 3 – 9; Emily T. 1, Elsa 1, Emma 1. Friend: 2-6.

Free throws: L-N 8-17; Emily M. 4-6; Aleah 1-3; Avery 1-2; Elsa 1-2; Emma 1-2; Katelyn 0-2; Friend: 3-7.

Fouls: L-N 8; Friend: 10.

The Lady Raiders traveled to Shelton Tuesday for the final game before the Christmas holiday. Next week they travel to Hershey for their Holiday tournament. They play Hershey High School at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 29. They play again on Wednesday against either Gering or Gothenburg.