Starting the Postseason Off Strong - By Payton Clarke

    The Bombers were able to secure a win starting off the postseason with a bang ending the game against the Lewis and Clark Tigers 74 to 51. Going into the game the Bomber girls were sitting number four in the seed playing against the fifth-ranked team the Tigers. While heading into this game with a home-court advantage for Richland playing at our own Art Dawald gym, this was still the first time seeing this team all season making it unsure how everything would play out. The lady Bombers did not let anything faze them having great games for players Kylee Fox and Macie Milum alongside the rest of the team. Kylee Fox stole the game and gave the Bombers 32 points making her the leading scorer on both sides by a long shot. This momentum that she was able to give the team helped to secure a 23-point lead against the Tigers making no doubt that Richland came to go all the way to State. There was a positive and determined energy throughout the game and could sense that the team was ready to fight for a win and a chance back for a championship title.

Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf. 

    Going into the game the top scorer for Lewis and Clark and the ones to look for were Cassidy Large and Kayla Vue our team was able to hold them both to six points each, helping the Bomber maintain their high lead throughout the entirety of the game. After successfully shutting both girls down and not having any other real star shooters left it had them scrambling to try to put points on the board against the powerhouse Bomber team.

    For Richland, it was a completely different story with the Bombers having many girls scoring both two and three-pointers through the entirety of the game racking up the score and lengthening the lead that Richland had on the Tigers. While talking to player Kylee Fox about how this win will help them going into the game on Tuesday when playing against the number one seed, she said ¨the win on Friday definitely gave us confidence and know that we can separate ourselves from other teams¨. While still a good win for the Bomber and a great start to the postseason, it helped them mentally prepare to face tougher teams and trust their abilities down the road, they are going to carry the momentum they had from this game to the rest. Along with that, she talked about how the team's strategy is not going to be changing heading into the game against Central Valley. Fox mentioned that ¨we watch film and learn their tendencies and who's their best players¨. These pregame strategies have proven to work this whole season and are not something that they will be changing heading out of the MCC.

Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf.

    While the stakes are higher for this next game needing the win against the CV Bears, Richland is taking it like every other game this season- trying to make their way into the championship game. This CV team is a hard one to read in the sense that they are sitting number one in the bracket but went into overtime with Hanford during the first game of the postseason when we beat the Falcons previously this year 66 to 47 and 63 to 24. With this, we don't know how the game is going to play out and if they are going to play as the number one team or one that barely beat our second-to-last-ranked team in the MCC.

    The next game is not at home and we see our girls travel the two hours to Spokane. Talking to Maya Rowe, I was able to gain insight into how traveling affects them having to play so far away. Rowe mentioned that ¨there are many different advantages that come with being able to play at your gym not only the support of the student section but, the band and cheerleaders, as well as the rest of the school being there but is something that we are able to overcome when playing and not have it negatively affect us¨.

Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf.

    While the team is still preparing for the unknown that comes with playoffs, they have proven that they are bringing their best and working as a unit creating the team chemistry that is needed for each game against whoever they are facing. Not only is it still early in the postseason and only have one game under their belts, but the lady Bombers are showing how much work they are putting in inside of the gym and showcasing it out on the court with their overall skill throughout the contest playing solid defense at the same time being able to put points on the board whenever they have the chance. Starting off strong they want to continue winning and are hoping for a big one in the next game against Central Valley to earn their way into the championship moving them onto the state competition for the second year in a row.