Riverside cruises past CHS

The Riverside Lady Rebels eased into the semi-finals of the 2A-North Regional Basketball Tournament at Rector Thursday evening with a 64-26 win over Clarendon. The victory also earned the squad a spot in next week's 2A state tournament at Carlisle.

The Lady Rebs used the same formula which has helped them to 30-plus wins again this year, stiffling defense and transitional offense, to put the game out of reach early despite the efforts of the Lady Lions.

Jumping to an 18-9 lead after one, the Lady Rebels pushed it to a 38-16 advantage by intermission and a 55-24 lead going into the fourth quarter. Leading the effort was Carolina ìBeanî Hoffman with 25, while sister Lotti Hoffman finished with 14. Despite the lopsided score, Riverside Coach Spencer Hoffman noted the Lady Lions did present some match-up problems for his squad. “They really did, I thought they did a good job of trying to create mismatches by putting that much size on the floor,” he said. “And it did hurt us a little trying to keep them off the boards. They're well coached and I thought they did a really good job against us, but we were able to stretch the defense and make some outside shots, which is to our advantage.”

As they have all year, the Lady Rebel combination of defense and fast break offense hampered the Lady Lion game plan, just as Coach Hoffman had planned. “Yes, that's our bread-and-butter, I thought we did a good job of defending in the halfcourt and did a good job of adjusting and trying to make them drive the ball instead of throwing it inside to those bigs every time,” he added. “So, I was pleased, I thought we played very well tonight.”

Rounding out the Lady Rebel scoring were Grace Puckett with seven, Bailey Douglas and Hailey Carr with six, Lindy Bolt with four and Alexis Courtney with three points. Ariel Jefferson led the Lady Lions with 10 in the loss.

In the earlier quarterfinal Thursday, the Marmaduke Lady Greyhounds advanced with a 66-53 win over Marianna-Lee. They were slated to face top-seeded Melbourne in the early game Friday while the Lady Rebels were scheduled to take on EPC in the late game. The seeding and championship games will be played Saturday at Rector High School.

Hoffman also noted the quality of the regional bracket has him looking forward to state tourney play.

“It doesn't get any easier, we've got four of the best teams in the state,” he explained. “I told the girls that the next two games are gonna be really really tough no matter how it goes. Actually, we're waiting for that first round of state, it might be a little easier than what we're having to go through here.”

The first round of the 2A state tournament is set to begin Tuesday at Carlisle.