For a third time this season, South Ripley’s Lady Raiders faced off against Jac-Cen-Del’s Lady Eagles. In the prior two matches, JCD won the non-conference meeting and Ripley won the county championship pairing.
As heard Tuesday night on WRBI in Versailles, the Raiders won the ORVC contest, 34-30.
With the victory, South Ripley remains the only unbeaten team in the conference at 4-0. With the loss, Jac-Cen-Del is 4-1 and falls back into a second place tie with Switzerland County.
The Raiders and Pacers play on Thursday. That’s the final conference game for Switz. South Ripley still has Southwestern to play at home on Saturday as well. Meanwhile, Jac’s final conference game is also with Southwestern in Hanover on Thursday.
Those three games will all impact the top three order of finish in the ORVC.
Jac-Cen-Del’s last lead during Tuesday’s contest was 7-6 at the end of the first quarter. South Ripley took a 14-10 advantage into intermission.
Gracie Gunter and Rachel Meyer both had six points for the hosts after two quarters. Reagan Hughes led the visitors with three.
Both teams struggled to make shots, especially three balls, where they were collectively 0-of-16.
In the third, the Raiders went up five at the stop, 23-18. Then in the fourth, Jac-Cen-Del came back from seven down to get within two, but South Ripley never gave up its lead and won by four.
Gracie Gunter’s 19 points plus six rebounds led Team Green to a victory on Senior Night. Katelynn Samples contributed a pair of eights in points and rebounds while Rachel Meyer logged six points and five boards.
For the Columbia Blue-clad Eagles, Regan Hughes, Annabelle Williams and Aundrea Cullen all scored six. Williams also amassed 11 rebounds and five steals.
Ripley didn’t shoot well but shot well enough hitting 33 percent from the floor on 15-of-46 attempts. The Eagles were held to 20 percent shooting overall with a 10-of-50 effort.
The Raiders also won the JV game 56-37 led by Katie Miller’s 19 points. Teammates Lexi Mozingo and Lexi Franklin posted 16 and 13 points respectively. Sophia Sullivan and Delaney Hughes both put in eight for the Eagle reserves.
We thank South Ripley AD Jeff Gorrell for the accommodations and hospitality. We also thank coaches Matt McNew and Scott Smith for their information and time in our pregame show.