Chippy Opener for the Lady Bombers - By Seth Shook

    The Richland Bombers traveled up to Covington, Washington, to play the Kentwood Conquerors in a very chippy season opener, unfortunately ending in a tough loss for the Bombers to the Conks 52-67.

    The Richland Bomber girl's basketball team is looking to have a great season this year. After having a good season going 11-4, and having an outstanding performance last year in the 4a state tournament in which they took 6th place. This had been the first time the Bomber girls had made it to the state basketball tournament in the last 17 years. The Bombers have a lot of returning talent that will be good for this upcoming season. After only losing 2 senior players last year, the Bombers are looking to make another effort to make it back to the state tournament in hopes of chasing the Bomber girls' first state championship in Richland's history.

Kylee Fox (30), Lexi Hay (22), and Macie Milum (13) are called in for the starting lineup.

    The Richland Bombers, led by senior guard Kylee Fox, were off to a hot start going up 14-9 with great defensive plays from both teams on the court. The Bombers' Fox would score 10 first-quarter points putting the Bombers in a great position to end the first quarter. The Bombers were able to make great stops against the forcible Kentwood offense until a few very hard fouls by the Conks; this put the Bombers into a sort of shock as they realized this Kentwood team was pretty rough. The lady Bombers would put in good transitions; however, a few missed calls from the referees and a few missed opportunities put the Bombers in a tough spot. During the second quarter, the game began to get chippy on the Kentwood side with a loose jump ball in the air. Junior post Maya Rowe got an excellent rebound until immediately after, she was grabbed by the neck in a chokeslam type of foul by the Kentwood defender in which would result in a technical foul. Then Late in the second quarter, the Bombers would manage to score a few good buckets until senior guard Kylee fox would get the ball and go up for a lay-in and would have her feet swept from under her after another ridiculous foul from the Kentwood defenders. From this point on, everyone in the gym knew this would be a chippy game.

Kylee, Lexi, and Macie prepare for the game against Kentwood.

    After the half, the Bombers were down 33-26 to start the third things would not go our way with the Conks having a great offensive gameplan and would go up on the Bombers the entire half. Things were still pretty hectic, with many missed calls by the referees and brutal fouls from the Kentwood defense. The Bombers were losing their patents with the refs as they were missing blatant calls. The Bombers were getting hit, thrown, chopped, and shoved, and the refs somehow could not see it. The Bombers, however, would not back down, going on a run to bring the score within 5. The Bombers showed great heart the whole game with few substitutes. In the fourth quarter, the Bombers were playing good defense and had some good ball movement up and down the court, but it was Kentwoods great 2nd quarter that got the best of the Bomber girls. However, emotions were running hot late in the game. Kentwood would run up the score, and the Bombers would keep cutting that lead down close, and it went back and forth for the whole quarter. This was a very competitive game, and you could tell how much both teams wanted to win. The Bombers would not roll over, and they never gave up and had given a great fight against a really good Kentwood team. The game would finish, and the Bomber girls would fall to the Kentwood conquerers 53- 67. Although this was a tough loss, it is a great way to open the season in a tough, chippy loss that can motivate this already motivated team with driven individuals. Something tells me this will be one of the few losses for the Bombers this season, if not the only loss.

    Don't let the end result in this game fool you; the Bombers are set to have a great season and a great postseason. The Richland Bomber girl's next game is against last year's reigning conference champions, the Pasco Bulldogs at Pasco high school, a team that had placed 3rd in the 4a state tournament this last year, a team that the Bombers went 1-1 with last year in 2 historical games to watch. This is set to be a fun game to experience and one that you cannot miss out on.