Trailing by 10 nearly midway through the third quarter, the Ryle girls basketball team needed to figure some things out against Frederick Douglass on Wednesday night in Union.
They couldn’t bring Maddie Scherr in from the stands, who was there to be honored with a jersey.Plus she was out of eligibility, currently playing at the University of Kentucky.
They do however have a powerful trio in Quinn Eubank, Sarah Baker and Jaelyn Jones. The three combined for 42 points in a 58-50 win over the Broncos in comeback fashion.
Those moments of adversity in a game were nothing new for the Raiders, having played nine ranked teams in the top 25 of the statewide media poll to date on the season, Frederick Douglass being the 10th. They’d finish the contest on a 32-14 run over the final 12-plus minutes.
“I am a true believer of you learn more from your mistakes than you do just constantly being successful,” Raiders coach Katie Haitz said. “Our losses that we have are hard losses. Especially those three in the row that we had with South Laurel and Sacred Heart and Cooper, but all of those things I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and what we were capable of doing.”
Prior to that, it was Douglass being the aggressor, ending the first quarter on a 8-0 run for a 17-11 advantage. Their full court pressure and offensive rebounding was the trick as they had double-digit second chance points in the first half.
Ryle was able to respond in the second quarter by getting within three by halftime at 27-24, thanks to Sarah Baker pouring in eight of her 15 points in the quarter.
“We just had to match their physicality,” Baker said. “If we were going to back down, they were going to body us all night like they did when they got up 10 points. So it was important we didn’t back down or get intimidated when teams pressure us like that. It was important we were just as physical and took it back to them like we did.”
Out of the half, the Broncos continued to turn over the Raiders and crash the boards, opening up the second half on a 9-2 run for a 36-26 advantage. Ryle needed time and Haitz was pretty vocal with her team.
“We were having lapses we haven’t had in a while,” Haitz said. “We knew coming into this game they did a great job hitting the boards and we didn’t do a good job matching that challenge, so we challenged them there.”
Message received, ending the quarter on a 18-7 run for a 44-43 lead thanks to a Jaelyn Jones triple at the end of the frame. Jones, who battled early foul trouble and missed most of the first half, finished with 10 points.
“Our bench tries to stay pretty active and that helps stay locked into the game,” Jones said.
Defense is where Ryle has been hanging their hat, allowing 48.7 points per game despite the rugged schedule. The hat was put on in the fourth as they held the Broncos without a field goal for the first four minutes of the quarter. The Broncos were able to stay within arms length and eventually tied the game up at 50 on a Mikalee Bennett floater with 1:20 remaining.
It was Eubank’s time. The senior Miss Basketball candidate, much like her predecessor Scherr was in 2020, closed the game with a runner in the lane off the glass, a layup and two free throws to make the final score 58-50.
“We went in the locker room and realized that we needed to get momentum and utilize all of our players,” Eubank said. “We got all that momentum back on our side and it just carried us out to the end and we got the win.”
Ryle also got big contributions from Gracie Carrigan and Rosemary Miller while Jayden McClain provided productive minutes off the bench defensively with a couple blocked shots. Carrigan finished with nine points, including the first five for the Raiders in the fourth quarter while Miller finished with seven points, five of them coming in the pivotal third quarter run to give the Raiders the lead.
“We’ve always talked about that. If we get at least three with 10 points and then we get six or eight elsewhere, those things are key to us in being successful,” Haitz said.
The Raiders return to action on Friday at home against Scott at 7:30 p.m.
Frederick Douglass was led by Ayanna Darrington with 15 points, her activity on the glass keeping possessions alive for the Broncos. Jaylee Knowles added 13 points, Niah Rhodes with nine.
Scherr honored
Prior to Wednesday night’s game, Ryle grad Maddie Scherr was honored with a jersey for her accomplishments as a Raider. Not only was she Miss Kentucky Basketball in 2020, but helped guide the Raiders to a state championship in 2019, where she won MVP honors at the Sweet 16. Scherr graduated as Ryle’s all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and assists.
“It’s just nostalgic being back here,” Scherr said. “The memories are so great and grateful to be a part of it and celebrated. Everybody is so kind and loving and it’s been an amazing opportunity.”
Scherr is a senior and a starter on the Kentucky women’s basketball team and will have one more year of eligibility left with a COVID waiver next season. Prior to coming to Lexington, Scherr played in Oregon for two seasons.
More to come on Scherr in a different article later this week on what Wednesday night meant to her and how she’s moving along in her college career.
RAIDERS 58, BRONCOS 50
FREDERICK DOUGLASS — 17-10-16-7 — 50
RYLE — 11-13-20-14 — 58
Scoring
Douglass (50) — Darrington 15, Knowles 13, Rhodes 9, Bennett 6, Baker 5, Maxwell 2
Ryle (58) — Eubank 17, Baker 15, Jones 10, Carrigan 9, Miller 7
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Douglass 2, Ryle 4
Free Throws: Douglass 10/14, Ryle 8/12
Fouls: Douglass 11, Ryle 12
Records: Frederick Douglass 14-6, Ryle 13-7