STEARNS —  McCreary Central’s Lady Raiders began the new year by starting a new win streak last week going 3-0 including a much needed district win over Southwestern who had twice pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat McCreary already this season.

 The modest three game winning streak gives McCreary a 9-7 record overall while the win over Southwestern puts them back in the thick of things as far as the battle for district seedings are concerned.

  Southwestern currently has a 3-2 record (not including holiday tournament games) in district play and will play their final district game tonight at Wayne County who is 3-1 in district play.  McCreary and Monticello are both 1-2 with their wins coming over Southwestern.  A loss tonight by Wayne would eliminate the Lady Cardinals from possibly gaining the number one seed and would force McCreary or Monticello to beat Wayne County as well as sweep the two games remaining between each other to force a tie with Southwestern at the top.  McCreary will play at Monticello on Thursday night and then home games vs  Wayne Co. on Jan. 20 and Monticello on Jan. 31.

 On Friday night the Lady Raiders pulled out their biggest win of the season coming from seven points down on two separate occasions in the fourth quarter to win 50-46 in overtime at home.

 The Lady Raiders took a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and briefly took a seven point advantage of their own after baskets by Candance Foster and Brittany King to open the second period. A McCreary turnover led to a basket which started a 9-0 Lady Warrior run though that put Southwestern up by two early in the second half after leading 18-17 at the break.

 A pair of three pointers by Kisha Gibson started the Lady Raider scoring in the second half allowing them to regain the lead each time but Southwestern’s Addison Corder scored twice in the final 1:07 of the third including a basket just before the buzzer to tie the game at 27-27 heading to the fourth quarter.

  A McCreary turnover lead to a Southwestern three pointer by Ally Venable from the left corner to start the final period of regulation.  The trey was the Lady Warriors only three of the game but it started a run that would give them a 35-28 lead with six minutes to go.  After McCreary scored off of an inbounds play to Foster Hannah Grant hit two free throws to once again give the Lady Warriors a seven point cushion, 37-30 with 5:08 remaining.

  McCreary began to battle back though as freshman Cierra Terry hit one of two free throws followed by Brittany King hitting both ends of a one and one and then adding a basket at the 3:45 mark to cut the lead to 37-35.

  Southwestern baskets by Samantha Fitzgerald and Corder though pushed the Lady Warrior lead back to six and seemed at the time as if it might be just enough to put the game away.  Central would battle back again though as Foster found Cierra Terry underneath for a lay in with 2:48 left and then hit  the first of two charity tosses at the 2:07 mark to cut the lead to 41-38.

  After the two teams took turns throwing the ball away McCreary got a huge break as Southwesterns Destiny Molden was whistled for traveling just prior to scoring on a lay up that would have given Southwester a five point lead with 1:16 to play.  Instead the Lady Raiders capitalized on the mistake  with Kisha Gibson knocking down two crucial free throws with :53 to go cutting the lead to one at 41-40.

  McCreary allowed the clock to tick down to just twenty-four second remained before fouling and  sending Venable to the line for the double bonus.  The sophomore guard would hit the first but missed on the second attempt leaving McCreary down by just two points.

The Lady Raiders would tie the game with eleven seconds to go when Gibson  passed from the left baseline underneath to Foster who scored from deep underneath the backboard to even things up at 42-42.

  Following a timeout Southwestern got off one shot at a game winner but Corders runner in the lane missed to the left and neither team could control the rebound before the clock expired sending the game to overtime.

  Overtime started with just more than two minutes of scoreless basketball until McCreary finally broke the ice with a layup by Gibson while drawing a foul with 1:53 to go.  She would also hit the free throw to convert the three point play and give McCreary the lead for good.  Terry would add a free throw with :41 to play to give McCreary a four point advantage.

  Destiny Molden had an opportunity to cut the lead to one as she scored in the lane while drawing a foul with thirty seconds to go.  She was unable to get her free throw to fall however and McCreary would get one of the points back as Brittany King hit one of two free throws just four seconds later.

  On the following possession the Lady Warriors committed another crucial miscue when a pass toward the midcourt line sailed high and out of bounds.  Southwestern was forced to foul sending Foster to the line for just the second time in the game.  The Lady Raider junior would connect on both attempts though to give Central a 49-44 lead with :20 to play.

  Corder would hit two free throws after being fouled on a drive down the lane with :14 to play which cut the lead back to three but Cierra Terry would come to the other end and hit the first of two shots to give the Lady Raiders a 50-46 lead that would stand as the final score when Southwestern could not get another shot to fall  in the final seconds.

  Candance Foster led McCreary with 16 points while Kisha Gibson added 13 and Brittany King 10.

  The win was McCreary’s first in three tries against Southwestern this season.  In each of the first two contests the Lady Warriors pulled away late to break open what was a close game to start the fourth quarter.  The win also broke an 18 game losing streak to Southwestern dating back to a 45-41 Lady Raider win on February 5, 2004.

Prior to Friday’s district win the Lady Raiders had started the new year off with a home win on Tuesday over Clinton County.

  McCreary seemed to be on the verge of taking control early as they raced out to an 8-0 lead but the Lady Bulldogs would close the gap to trail just 10-9 after  the first period.

  McCreary used a 10-1 run in the second quarter to push the lead to as much as 13 points, 29-16 with 1:17 left in the half but a 5-0 run in the final 1:17 was capped off with a buzzer beating three pointer to trip the McCreary half time lead to 29-21.

  In the third the Lady Raider lead grew to as much as twelve points after a Lyndsey Vanover three pointer at the 4:50 mark but Clinton would again close the quarter with a run that pulled them back within five at 47-42.

  Three pointers by Kaylee Cotton and Candance Foster early in the fourth helped McCreary to a 55-48 lead but the Lady Bulldogs would close the gap to 55-52 at the 3:05 mark despite missing four of six free throws in the process.

  After that point though Clinton would score just once more while the Lady Raiders finished the game with a 10-0 run to secure the 65-54 win.

  Candance Foster’s 26 points led McCreary while Kaylee Cotton added 12 and Cierra Terry 11.

   Following Friday’s win the Lady Raiders were back on their home court for a Saturday afternoon game with East Jessamine.  After playing to a 9-9 tie five minutes into the contest McCreary pulled away with a 24-4 run to take a 32-13 lead with 2:31 left in the half. Central had closed the first quarter with a 14-2 spurt to make the score 23-11 before adding a 10-2 run to start the second period.

  The Lady Raiders would take a 36-17 lead at the half and a 52-28 advantage after three quarters.

  East Jessamine scored four points to start the fourth period but McCreary then reeled off a 20-2 run to push the lead to as much as 72-34 before ending with a 72-36 victory for their third win in a row.

  Candance Foster scored 31 points to lead McCreary who also got 14 from Kisha Gibson and 12 from Lyndsey Vanover.