Riverside falls to ICC in 2A North Regional finals

Riverside (33-4) had a rough day on both the offensive and defensive sides in the regional finals falling to Izard County Consolidated 40-20 in the championship game Saturday in Lake City. The Lady Rebels will open the 2A State Tournament against Alpena in Cedar Ridge.

ICC got on the board first with a basket inside before Brooklyn Berry hit one of two free throws for Riverside to make it 2-1 Lady Cougars. ICC hit three of four free throws on back to back trips to the line as Ryley Eakins hit two free throws for the Lady Rebels making the score 5-3 ICC with 2:53 left. The Lady Cougars added a three-pointer to make the score 8-5 ICC after one quarter.

Eakins hit triple twine to cut the lead to 8-6 early in the second quarter as ICC scored the next six points to push their lead to 14-6 with 5:16 left. The Lady Rebels scored the last six points of the quarter as Vaughn hit a jumper in the lane and scored in the paint and Briley Travis scored down low to make the halftime score 14-12 Lady Cougars.

Vaughn tied the game at 14-14 with a basket down low to open the third quarter only to see ICC score six straight points to make it 20-14 with 2:52 left. Vaughn scored in the paint for Riverside to make it 20-16, but the Lady Cougars ended the quarter on an 8-0 to make it 28-16 ICC at the end of three quarters of play.

ICC pushed the lead to 29-16 before Klaire Womack hit a jumper in the lane for Riverside to make it 29-18 Lady Cougars. ICC reeled off seven straight points to make the score 36-18 before Vaughn scored inside to make it 36-20 Lady Cougars with 2:10 left in the game. ICC added a jumper and two free throws to set the final score of 40-20.

“Real tough night for us, I don’t know if we’ve ever been held to 20 points,” Riverside head coach Tyler Timms said after the game. “We missed open shots, turned the ball over too many times and I didn’t do a good job of coaching tonight. We got a chance to move on so we’ll learn from this and put our best foot forward headed to the state tournament,” Timms added.

Vaughn led Riverside with 10 points as Eakins finished with five points. Klaire Womack and Travis tossed in two points each as Berry chipped in a point fort the Lady Rebels.