Merrill, ORE – The Lost River Raiders hosted the Bonanza Antlers on Friday night for the second meeting between the schools this year. Here is how each game unfolded…
Girls: Bonanza 47 – 16 Lost River
The Bonanza Antlers scored first and never relinquished the lead. Lost River’s Macey Thompson split a pair of free throws with 4:35 to go in the first quarter which made the score 5-3 in favor of Bonanza. That is as close as the Raiders would get to the lead as Bonanza ripped an 8-0 run to end the frame. The teams traded buckets early in the second quarter. With 2:35 to go in the first half and the Antlers leading 20-10, Bonanza began to press on defense and forced a 10-second violation. Bonanza got hot at the end of the quarter again and scored five unanswered points to close the half.
In the third quarter, Bonanza turned up the heat on defense and held Lost River to just four points, bringing a 41-14 lead to the final quarter. The teams emptied the bench in the final quarter with the game well in hand for Bonanza and the squads scored a combined eight points to finish the game.
Bonanza’s Mary Schooler led all scorers with 11 points, Julie Hess scored 10 and Maggie Ackley added eight. Vashti Arata and Ayla DeLonge each scored six, Grace Kness had three, Abby Hill finished with two, and Ellie Huffman scored one point in the win. For Lost River Betty Kay Overcash led the scorebook with four points and Macey Thompson added three. Morgan Herring and Amariz Hernandez each scored two, and Eily Hawkins scored one.
Boys: Lost River 59 – 50 Bonanza
It took both teams a couple of minutes to get rolling. Emmett O’Brien scored the first points of the night for Lost River on a left-handed floater with 6:00 to go in the first quarter. The Antlers answered with a Victor Gonzales triple to give the Antlers their first and only lead of the night at 3-2. Tate Freeman sunk a couple of free throws on the next trip down the floor to put Lost River ahead 5-3. Those free throws sparked a 17-1 run for the Raiders as they led 19-4 after eight minutes. Lost River’s zone defense continued to give Bonanza fits through most of the first half as they led 32-15 going into the halftime break.
The threes started to fall more often for Bonanza coming out of the break as Andrew Rojas nailed back-to-back triples early in the third. But on the other side, the big bodies of Tate Freeman and Connor Dunlea continued to score. The Antlers scored nine points on made triples and 15 overall in the quarter, but still trailed 46-30 going to the fourth. The Antlers made a push in the fourth but it was too little too late and Lost River secured victory in front of a loud home crowd.
Tate Freeman led the Raiders in scoring with 20 points. Connor Dunlea scored 15 while Emmett O’Brien added eight. Kayden Hartman notched six points and Chase McAuliffe scored five. Beau Sanders had two. For Bonanza, Alex Renzetti led the team with 20 points. He got help from Victor Gonzales and Andrew Rojas each with 10, Colby Meideros with five, Lorentino Weiser with three, and Garrett Gallagher with one point.
Up next for the Bonanza boys and girls teams, it’s a date with North Lake/Paisley on Saturday. Lost River hosts Chiloquin, also on Saturday.