SOUTHERN PINES — The Richmond Senior women’s basketball team resumed its winning ways Friday night on the road, topping Pinecrest, 58-49 in a Southeastern Conference contest.

With the win, the Lady Raiders improved to 12-2 overall on the season (3-1 SEC) and avenged their Holliday-In-The-Pines Tournament champonship game loss to the Lady Patriots.

The two teams will meet again Tuesday, Feb. 9 when Pinecrest comes to Richmond.

Lady Raider interim coach Nellie Harrington said her team realized it’s difficult to defeat a team twice in the same season. But that will be the goal when the two teams meet again.

Good second-half defense and improved free-throw shooting made a difference for the Lady Raiders Friday night at Pinecrest, as Richmond converted on 9-of-12 from the charity stripe (9-of-12).

LaShey Brown and Shaquitta Covington led the Lady Raiders with 11 points apiece. Torrie Ingram added 10, and I’Teionna McLaughlin and Demi Watkins chipped in with eight points apiece. Kay Wall added four, and Salina Bright and Tiffani Holland added three points each.

Richmond returns to action Tuesday night on the road at Scotland. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.

Pinecrest men 75, Richmond 61

Earlier, the Raider men had an opportunity to tie Pinecrest for first place in the Southeastern Conference, but found out why the Patriots are the top team in the league.

The Patriots outscored the Raiders 28-15 in the third to take a 23-point cushion into the fourth and cruised to a 75-61 victory over Richmond Friday night.

The loss snapped the Raiders’ two-game winning streak as Richmond dropped to 11-4 overall, 2-2 in the SEC. Tedarrius Wiley paced Richmond with 18 points, while Brian Love scored 13 points and Kasheem Reid added 12 points.

“We really got hurt giving up unforced turnovers,” Raiders coach David Laton said. “We also gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, and Pinecrest got a lot of putbacks off second shots.”

The Patriots (15-2, 4-0), ranked eighth in the NCPreps.com poll, won their fifth straight game and stayed undefeated in conference play. Laton said the 28 points allowed in the third was disappointing and the most given up in a quarter this season.

The Raiders look to rebound when they play at Scotland Tuesday with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.

“I talked to the guys after the locker room and told them to put this game behind us,” Laton said. “Each conference game is important, but we can’t be concerned with what other teams are doing. We’ve got to take care of our own business.”