By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Riverside hung with a strong team Wednesday, but in the end could not overcome the strength of Ellender, which captured a 49-35 victory at the Rebels’ gym.

Toni Hebert, Kristy Milioto and Kelsey Joseph each scored eight points for Riverside.

Darion Green led Ellender (8-2) with 11 points. Jasmine McKinley chipped in 10.

The Rebels (2-5) trailed 10-8 at the end of a quarter and 26-19 at halftime. But Ellender slowly pulled away, outscoring the Rebels by two in the third, then five in the fourth to make up the 14-point margin of victory.

“I feel like it was a game we could have won,” said Riverside coach Trenese Smith. “We started off well, but we bogged down somewhere and never got it going again.”

Smith said that Ellender’s press presented some problems.

“Turnovers killed us. At the same time, we had a number of open baskets there for us under the goal and we couldn’t finish.”

She said that a hurdle her team must overcome is simply the belief that they can defeat established teams like Ellender.

“You can’t go in assuming the other team is always better than you are, because maybe you haven’t had that kind of success,” said Smith. “This is a good team, but they have to believe it themselves first.”