JOHNSTOWN – The Lady Raiders have completed regular-season play and are preparing for the Region 3 championship tournament. There are 16 women's basketball teams in Region 3, and the top eight will compete for the tournament crown. Onondaga CC is the tournament host.
FM's women have been awarded the fourth seed and will play fifth-seeded Jefferson CC at 3:00 p.m. on Friday in OCC's spacious SRC Arena. All eight teams will play on Friday, with games at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. in both the Arena and the adjacent Allyn Hall Gym.
FM and Jefferson have a grand rivalry. Two of their last three meetings have been classics. They met twice in the 2013-14 season, with FM winning both games by the narrowest of margins. FM won at Jefferson in double overtime, after Kassandra Flowers' shot tied the game as regulation time expired. Then, in the regional semifinals, FM downed Jefferson by one point after Flowers drove the baseline to score the winning basket with 7.1 seconds remaining. FM also defeated Jefferson this season, in the Raiders Den on November 23. The Lady Raiders won that one 69-62, but both teams have continued to develop since then, and Friday's game should be an evenly-matched affair.
Photo: Stephanie Rice scoring against Jefferson in the Raiders Den in November
The Lady Raiders have had a very good season. They enter postseason play with an overall record of 17-8, and a Mountain Valley Conference record of 11-5. The latter mark put the team in a third-place tie with Hudson Valley. The top two spots in the nine-team conference were won by Mohawk Valley (15-1) and North Country (14-2).
FM's season included a six-game win streak in November and December, and a seven-game win streak in January and February. Among many other highlights were Torri Richard's tally with 0.8 seconds remaining to defeat Adirondack at Adirondack on January 25, and a 67-60 win on January 20 (Martin Luther King Day) over Corning on Corning's court.
The FM offense is led by Stephanie Rice, with 16.7 ppg, and Evanda Redwood with 15.3 ppg. Jessica Woney scored 12.1 ppg and dished out 5.2 assists per contest. Rice also pulled down 11.2 rebounds per game.
Seedings and game times for Friday's quarterfinals:
#1 Onondaga vs. #8 Schenectady 1:00 p.m., SRC Arena
#2 Mohawk Valley vs. #7 Broome 1:00 p.m., Allyn Hall Gym
#3 North Country vs. #6 Hudson Valley 3:00 p.m., Allyn Hall Gym
#4 Fulton-Montgomery vs. #5 Jefferson 3:00 p.m., SRC Arena
C.J. Bonny, website writer
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