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AMERICUS – After their 58-21 victory at Valwood the night before, the Southland Academy Lady Raiders (SAR) were hoping to continue to have success against the Lady Knights of Calvary Christian on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Lady Raiders, they were not able to make shots and it led to a 41-30 loss at the hands of the Lady Knights at the Melvin Kinslow Gymnasium.

“We just didn’t make shots in the first half,” SAR Head Coach Chip Champion said. “I think we were probably a little leg weary from having to go to Valdosta last night. We played really well last night (Friday night) against Valwood, but didn’t today obviously. We have to move forward and learn from our mistakes and keep trying to make progress in what we are doing.”

Mary Beth Easterlin led the Lady Raiders in scoring with 11 points and Landry Hart chipped in nine in the losing cause.

Both teams struggled to score in the first quarter and by the quarter’s end, the score was tied at 4-4. The offensive struggles continued for both teams in the second quarter, but both teams were playing strong on the defensive end. With 4:54 to go before halftime, Landry Hart finally broke the deadlock with a jump shot to give the Lady Raiders a 6-4 lead.

Over the remaining minutes of the first half, both teams continued to struggle offensively, but the Lady Raiders took a 12-8 lead when Mary Beth Easterlin was able to score while getting fouled and made the free throw for the three-point play. By halftime, SAR had a 12-10 lead.

Early in the third quarter, both teams traded baskets, but Adler Rae Owens gave the Lady Raiders a 17-16 lead with two made free throws with a little more than four minutes left in the quarter. During this period of the game, the scoring picked up between both teams before CC called timeout with 2:27 to go in the third quarter and the score at 21-20 in favor of the Lady Knights. However, out of the timeout, the Lady Knights went on a 6-2 run to close out the third quarter and led 27-22 with one more quarter to play.

Early in the fourth quarter, CC scored four unanswered points before Champion called a timeout to settle his team down.

Over the next few minutes, both teams traded baskets, but the Lady Raiders were struggling to cut into the Lady Knights’ lead. Though they tried their best to get back into the game, SAR was not able to overcome their deficit and went on to lose by the score of 41-30.

Makayla Reed led the Lady Knights in scoring with 22 points.

The Lady Raiders will try to get themselves back into the win column when they head down to Albany on Tuesday to take on the Deerfield-Windsor Lady Knights. Tip off is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.