STRUTHERS — It might only have been for second place in the Northeast-8 Conference, but for Struthers and South Range, these games late in the season are instrumental to springboarding into the tournament where anything can happen.

With the Poland Bulldogs seemingly well on their way to winning the conference, the Wildcats and Raiders battled for the runner-up spot Monday night at Struthers Fieldhouse. Struthers looked poised to avenge an earlier season loss to the Raiders after a stellar first half, but they stumbled when South Range amped up the defense and went on to a 62-52 win over the Wildcats.

“Struthers is so well-coached,” South Range coach Jeff Rishel said. “Their girls are so talented. They play so hard. They had an awesome game plan. They tried to run us out of this gym. They were able to do that in the first half.

“We made a real big focus on getting back and setting up our defense in the second half. When we do that, it allows us to ramp our pressure a bit. They created some turnovers and that’s how we get our offense. The first half was for them and the second half flow was for us.”

The run in the first half saw the Wildcats (9-7, 7-4) ahead by as many as 16 with 2:58 left until halftime.

The transition game was working. Shots were falling. Emma Elia had 13 points to spark Struthers’ offense. She finished with 17 for the game.

But Bree Kohler kept the Raiders (13-5, 9-2) afloat in the first quarter, scoring six of South Range’s 11 first quarter points.

From there Izzy Lamparty started to heat up, scoring seven in the second quarter as the Raiders finished out the quarter on a 6-0 run to get it within 10, 32-22 at the half.

“First half, I really liked how we came out with our intensity,” Struthers coach Bill Beider said. “We did a good job rebounding and getting transition points off those rebounds. We had them a little bit and they made a run a bit at the end of the first half. We got a little careless with the ball.”

Lamparty led the Raiders with a game high 23 points. Lexi Giles finished with 17 and Kohler added 11.

“Bree Kohler saved us in the first half,” Fishel said. “She kept it close enough for us to make a run in the second half. It allowed our scorers Izzy and Lexi to get into a rhythm in the second half. When they’re going, it’s a tough combo to shut down. We got great minutes from our bench. We had two freshman, Emma Cunningham and Taylor McClish, who stepped in and gave us fantastic minutes.

“That’s their first significant varsity time of the year. To do it at the Struthers Fieldhouse is awfully special. It was a big win for us. It was a grow-up win for us. It’s exciting and cool for us to get it in a historic building like this.”

Still, before everything started clicking for South Range, the Raiders missed their first seven shots of the second half. The Wildcats were up 36-22 after a basket from Elia.

Then everything changed.

Shooting woes from Struthers and an unrelenting South Range defense aided the Raiders on a 14-3 run to end the third quarter and make it 39-36 in favor of Struthers.

“They did a good job of taking away our transition game,” Beider said. “I thought, though, on offense we just needed to execute better. This is where we are a young and inexperienced team. We need to learn how to finish games. We need to get those good possessions. We had the lead. It was a 10-point lead for most of the third quarter. We have to come down and make some baskets.”

The Raiders took their first lead since the first quarter when Lamparty’s bucket made it 40-39 at the 7:03 mark of the fourth quarter. After four lead changes over the next three minutes, Lamparty’s basket with under five minutes to play gave South Range a 45-44 lead that they never relinquished down the stretch.

The Raiders made 11-of-13 free throws in the final quarter along with 7-of-12 shooting as they held Struthers to 20 points in the second half.

“Some nights, I’m really happy with where we’re at,” Fishel said. “Other nights, I’m not so happy. Tonight was a microcosm of that because we’re capable of a bad half like tonight. We’re also capable of a good half like we played in the second half. I’d like to see us gel together and play four good quarters instead of two. If we can figure out how to do that, we can be a really good basketball team.”