Owls slam dunk Rams

Ken Johnston
Editorial@RainyRiverRecord.com

It was a slam dunk of a day!

Saturday the Rainy River High School Owls court teams had an outstanding day, winning three out of four matches against the visiting Red Lake Rams.

The senior girls basketball team played an evenly matched Rams team that saw the score go back and forth most of the game.

The Owls drew first blood when they scored 2 points only 20 seconds into the quarter. Tight defense on both sides saw the game only reach the 7-4 mark by the end of the first quarter with the Owls in the lead.

In the second quarter fouls and missed baskets cost the Owls dearly. Within 24 seconds of the start of the quarter it was tied up at 8. At 6:12 the Owls regained the lead by 1 then the Rams returned the favour at 6:00 to go up 10-9. That was as close as it was going to be for a while. Taking advantage of good foul line shooting the Rams eventually lead 25-18 at the half. The Owls missed several shots they should have had.

In the third quarter the Owls were stuck at 20 for most of it. In the mean time the Rams worked their way to the 32 mark, while the Owls managed to only get to the 22 pt. mark.

In the fourth the Owls upped the tempo of the game by pouring it on 110%.

The Owls scored 2 at 6:24, 5:45, 5:25 and 4:59. They were only answered by two points from the Rams. At 4:18 Jenni Stafford hit the hoop for two and then Jessica Creason also picked up a foul shot at 3:21 and hit a two pointer at 1:50 to retake the lead for the Owls 35-34. The crowd went crazy feeling victory in their gut.

At 1:34 the Rams scored 2 to regain the lead 36-35. The crowd sat on the edge of their seats. Then Heather McLean of the Owls drew a foul and a chance to tie it from the foul line at 1:24. She did and the place went nuts. Seventeen seconds Heather McLean plunked two more in to get the final basket of the game and victory for the Owls. With only 2 seconds left in the game the Rams called a time out to try and make one final play, but it was futile as they took a shot and missed. The Final score was 38-36 for the Owls.

In junior boys volleyball the Owls had equally great success defeating the Rams three games straight, 25-21, 25-19 and 27-25.

In senior boys volleyball the Owls kept fans on the edge of their seats again. They lost the first game 17-25, won the second 25-14, lost the third 18-25, won the fourth 25-22 to tie the series at 2 games each. In the tie breaker they won 17-15 to take the series 3 games to 2.

The junior girls volleyball team had the only disappointing day, losing 72-26.