Lady Raiders struggle at Schulenburg tourney

The Rice Lady Raiders struggles continued at the Schulenburg tournament as they went winless during the tournament.

It started with a couple of tough losses to East Bernard and Schulenburg as the Lady Raiders scored only 20 points between the two games.

The Lady Raiders biggest issue is they are a little slow reading plays and teams are able to defend a little bit easier because they are reading the play faster than the Lady Raiders. Heading into their next couple of games the Lady Raiders struggles only got harder as they lost to Smithville, Bellville and St. Paul where they struggled to put points on the board.

In the Bellville game alone, the Lady Raiders were shutout in the first half leaving them in a 20-0 hole that they had to climb out of int he second half. The Lady Raiders are learning and growing a lot this season with most of their roster playing varsity for the first time.

Head coach Reagan Beal said despite the scoreboards looking not a good as the team hoped he still believes in this team and knows that it’s just going to take a little bit of time before they hit their stride.

“We are a young team, most of these girls played JV last season and are still adjusting to the level of play that is expected at the varsity level,” Beal said. “They come in with a great attitude though and they are giving their all on the court which is the best.”

Beal also gave his team credit for never dwelling on the lows, it can be easy to get sucked into negativity when a team is struggling like this, but the Lady Raiders always have a smile on their face and looking forward to the next play.

“That is thanks to our point guard, Beautiful Johnson, she is so good and getting the girls moved onto the next play,” Beal said. “I don’t like looking back on plays that did not work out and she does not either and the team rallies around that and it’s going to make us better in the future.”

The Lady Raiders will be back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 10, when they travel to Hallettsville for their first district game of the year.