POPLAR BLUFF - Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk did not have to look hard to find reasons for his Lady Raiders suffering a 70-56 Region XVI loss to the Moberly Lady Greyhounds Saturday night at the Bess Activity Center.

“We need to finish around the basket better,” Walk said. “We cannot win games shooting 29 percent inside the 3-point line. We need to get to the free-throw line more than 19 times.”

An off night on the glass didn’t help either.

“With all the bigs that we play, we need to win the war on the boards,” said Walk.

The Lady Raiders (8-12, 1-3 XVI) trailed just 58-56 after Brooke Godsey hit a free throw with 2:55 remaining, but did not score again as Moberly closed the game on a 12-0 run.

Earlier in the game, the Lady Greyhounds raced out to a 15-6 lead on Morgan Vetter’s 3-pointer with 13:16 left in the first half before Three Rivers rallied to eventually tie the game at 22 on Godsey’s basket with 3:33 left in the opening session.

However, Moberly regained the lead five seconds later on Tahsha Mitchell’s bucket and led 29-27 at the break.

Abbie Warren’s bucket two minutes into the second half for Three Rivers tied the game once again at 32, but the Lady Greyhounds answered with a 6-0 run and never trailed again.

Moberly extended its lead to 52-41 on Kayla Washington’s basket with a little over eight minutes to go, but the Lady Raiders rallied one last time, getting the deficit down to two points on Godsey’s free throw with 2:55 remaining.

Whitney Mills led Three Rivers with 10 points.

Ashley Stevenson paced the Lady Greyhounds with 14 points, while Jessica Bygate added 13, Mykel Boyd chipped in 12 and ShanToria Taylor finished with 11.

The Lady Raiders are back in action Wednesday when they host Jefferson in another Region XVI contest. Tipoff time is set for 6 p.m. at the Bess Activity Center.

For more information on everything Three Rivers Athletics, make sure to visit RaidersAthletics.com.