Belmont girls stun River Ridge 56-54 at horn

By A.J. Gates

Editors note - due to space constraints this week, this article is online only.

Coach Veronica Zinkle and her Lady Timberwolves from River Ridge gave league-leading Belmont all they could handle last Thursday night in Six Rivers West girls basketball action.

After trailing the host Braves 24-19 at halftime, the River Ridge girls outscored their opponent 35-32 in the second half, but came up short in a thrilling 56-54 loss.

With just less than a minute to play in Thursday night’s contest, Belmont’s Reese Runde broke a 51-51 tie with a layup and free throw, giving her team a 54-51 lead with 52 seconds to play.

On their ensuing possession, River Ridge got a huge offensive rebound from Erin Adrian on a missed 3-point attempt, which eventually led to the game-tying 3-pointer by Reghan Zinkle with just 4.3 seconds to play.

It proved to be enough time though for Belmont’s Kaci Riechers to find Lainey Riechers, who knocked down the game-winning shot to beat River Ridge at the buzzer.

“After a rough first half of scoring, the girls came out strong and we were able to outscore Belmont 35-32 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit,” said coach Zinkle of her Timberwolves.

“Throughout the game we shot very well from 3-point range and finished pretty well inside, but from the free throw line is where we faltered, and Belmont did not,” Zinkle added.

From the field, River Ridge knocked down 20-of-47 (42.5 percent) shot attempts, including 8-of-23 (34.7 percent) from 3-point range. They were 6-of-17 (35.2 percent) from the free throw line, compared to Belmont who was 14-of-21 (66.6 percent).

Melissa Sletten and Erin Adrian each finished with a team-high 11 points, followed closely by Shayna Graf with 10, Mandi Wehrle eight and Reghan Zinkle eight.

Adrian also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds, while Sletten dished out a team-high four assists. Graf led the team in steals with five.

“Our team played together and they played hard, which is all we as coaches can ask for,” said coach Zinkle.

Now 3-3 in league play and 10-5 overall, the Timberwolves will host Benton (1-4, 4-11) Friday, Jan. 26.