Lady Raiders advance to sectional semifinals

JARED ROGERS PHOTO

Pictured from an earlier game this year, South Ripley senior Lindsey Meyer led her team to their third victory over Milan this season. They’ll hope to continue their tourney run on Friday versus Switzerland County.

The South Ripley Lady Raiders varsity basketball team defeated the Milan Lady Indians on Tuesday, February 4 by a score of 49-39 to open the Class 2A Sectional 45 at Switzerland County High School.

The Lady Raiders outscored Milan 10-6 in the first quarter and 13-5 in the second, giving them a 23-11 lead at halftime.

Milan recovered from their slow start and nearly matched SR 11-12 in the third. The Lady Indians outscored their opponents 17-14 in the final quarter, but that still left them down 10 by the final buzzer. SR improved to 9-14 with the win.

Now South Ripley moves on to face Switzerland County (15-8) in the semifinal round scheduled for Friday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m.

South Ripley enters the match averaging 40.2 points per game versus Switzerland County’s 48.9 ppg average. According to Sagarin, SC is the 47th ranked team in Class 2A while SR is 61st.

The Lady Raiders and Lady Pacers met twice in the regular season. Switzerland County won both matches, 55-33 on December 17 and 45-40 last Thursday, January 30, which was the final regular season game for both teams.

Cierra Copeland led the Lady Raiders in that close loss last Thursday with 15 points and nine rebounds. She was backed up by Lindsey Meyer’s 10 points and eight rebounds.

Those two seniors will likely need to put up big numbers again on Friday for a chance to topple the Lady Pacers.

Prior to Milan’s exit in the sectional, they traveled to Waldron to conclude their regular season, also on Jan. 30. The Lady Indians fell to the hosts 51-40. Milan’s girls end their 2019-20 campaign with a 4-17 record. They finished fifth in the ORVC with a 2-4 record.