Auburn Riverside girls down Conks for first time in seven years

Auburn Riverside girls basketball is under new leadership, that of Grady Lowe. Well, normally they are, but with Lowe still being an active member of the military, he is currently overseas in Japan for training.

Merle McLain was called in from the bullpen to lead the Ravens while Lowe was away — and the Ravens didn’t miss a beat. Auburn Riverside defeated Kentwood 51-31 for their first win over the Conks since 2017.

“Great credit to our ladies and a great credit to him for setting us up for success before he had to go away for a few days,” McLain said.

Lowe, McLain and this current crop of Ravens are now 4-1, and are off to their best start since that 2016-2017 season when they defeated Kentwood in the district tournament.

“We just went out there and killed it. They underestimated us. We are the underdogs and went out there and did our thing,” said senior Ayeli Avelar.

The Ravens’ one loss came against a state tournament level team in Tahoma, which in turn showed what Riverside needed to do against Kentwood a team that was in the opening round of state a year ago.

Coming in, the Ravens were tasked with the 2023 NPSL MVP in Jessica Ajayi , a game wrecker. But in turn, the Ravens wrecked Kentwood’s game from the start.

“She is a great player and we were fortunate to get some stops,” McLain said.

In the first quarter, Auburn Riverside led 13-1 at the end of the eight minutes. No, that isn’t a typo — Kentwood scored just a single point. Defensive intensity was something that the Ravens picked up from that loss on the road at Tahoma on Dec. 5.

“We asked our ladies to play with great intensity and that is what they did on defense. We nailed a lot of our rotations early on. But it is all about bringing the intensity and the energy, and the ladies did that tonight,” McLain said.

On the offensive side of the floor, the tone was set early on when C.K. Kandola hit a crossover step-back three-pointer against her former team. Kandola spent her first two years of high school at Kentwood, but now has the teal and navy of Riverside on her uniform.

To her teammates, this game meant a little bit more to her.

“All we do is believe in her. She’s a great player,” Avelar said.

In the second, it was more of the same from the Ravens. They obviously couldn’t keep a team like Kentwood in the single digits for long, but it took a lot for Kentwood to get to 10 points as the Ravens led 26-10 at the break.

“We had been working a lot at practice on our defense. That is an accomplishment,” Avelar said.

At halftime, Ajayi had just two points, which was a win for the Ravens. Even after the third quarter, she had two points.

“We knew going into the game that she could get in her head. So we just did our thing and let the scoreboard do the talking. We had to pressure her the whole time and know where she was the whole game. I think we did that in the end,” Avelar said.

In the third quarter, Avelar had her best quarter and the highest scoring quarter for any Raven of the night with five as she finished the game with a game-high of 16.

Her leadership and work ethic have played a big part in the turn around of the Ravens so far this season.

“We asked her as a coaching staff to be our senior leader and that’s exactly what she is doing. She’s communicating with the ladies on and off the floor and making sure we are going in the right direction,” McLain said.

Ajayi did get hers in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points for the Conks, but at that point, the game was well out of reach.

Auburn Riverside has now won two out of their last three games and they take on Mount Rainier on the road.

“We have really only been together less than a month. New coaching staff, new philosophies and new offense, we’re not playing as well as we want to be playing. But we are playing decent basketball, and we will continue to learn and grow and be better as a team,” McLain said.

“I think we have a lot more to bring to the table. I think this is just the start,” Avelar said.