Raiders embrace pink action

By Greg Oakford
KNOX Raiders proved they had the right stuff on the weekend in a pink spectacular mid-season clash with the Brisbane Spartans.
The night attracted the biggest regular season crowd as the Raiders home ground turned pink to support breast cancer research.
The Lady Raiders kicked off the action with a grand final replay of last year’s championship game.
But it was the Spartans who got the early jump, leading by eight half way through the first term.
However, the Raiders dug deep to claw their way within two points at the first change.
Raider Sarah Graham scored 10 points and forced the Spartans into six turnovers, but good shooting from the visitors denied the home side the lead going into the main break.
Another close fought tussle saw the raiders going into the final quarter with a five-point deficit but the home side kept the Spartans to just 11 points to seal an impressive 69-67 come from behind victory.
Following the match, singer songwriter Chris Mitchell kept the crowd entertained in the lead up to the highly anticipated men’s clash.
Raider Lester Strong Raiders scored the first five points of the game as both teams traded basket for basket in the opening minutes of the first quarter.
Knox ended the first term on a 6-0 run with the help of four Mick Hill free throws and a CJ Massingale’s two with 17 seconds remaining, setting up a seven-point advantage entering the second quarter.
The Raiders played their best quarter in the second as CJ Massingale and captain Sean Carroll who was playing in his 199th game combined for 21 out the team’s 26 quarter points.
Half-time saw the entertainment continue for the 1,953 spectators in attendance as dance group Attitude Plus from the Upstage Dance Company performed a crowd pleasing routine, which was followed up by a past NBL players shoot-out.
Each participant shot five shots from three different areas on the floor and it was arguably the greatest NBL import to have ever played Darryl ‘D-Mac’ McDonald who took the cake with a total of 11 out a possible 18 points.
Knox went in the third quarter hoping to seal the game.
But the Spartans cut back a 15-point deficit outscoring the home side 30-15.
The momentum had completely shifted to the Spartans but the Raiders showed great poise in the final 10 minutes of action.
Massingale and Carroll again combined for the majority of the Raiders points, scoring 15 out of final 19 points, but it was a pair of Lester Strong free throws made with eight seconds remaining that gave the Raiders the game winning three-point lead. The final score was 84-81.