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"When you have three starters sitting on the bench like that, that's real tough," said Victory. "But my young kids pulled together and I'm really proud of them. "We practice to start 10 kids every game. That means if you've been practicing like you've been a starter, when it's your time, it's time for you to do it."

On Friday, nobody stepped up bigger than freshman Brittanai Shells and sophomore Nakia Anderson.

Shells, the highly touted 14-year-old, pumped in 17 of her game-high 26 points to stake the Riders to a 30-28 halftime lead. That outburst included three three-pointers in the first quarter alone.

What Shells started, Anderson then finished. She netted 18 of her 23 points in the second half as CR pulled away in the fourth quarter. Leading only 45-40, the Riders outscored Sussex Tech 26-15 over the final eight minutes.

"I've never played in a season where we've had so many people injured," said Anderson. "But we're getting through it, doing what we have to do to win." As for Shells, all the injuries pushed her into the spotlight a little sooner than Victory had expected. But she's answered with four straight 20-point games. "I mean, she was awesome," said Anderson. "In the first half, I don't think she missed. "We've known it since she was in middle school. We've been looking forward to her joining our program."

Victory tried to bring Shells along slowly, playing Patricia Millner out of position at point guard to take the pressure off the youngster. "Now you can see, she's starting to play real, real well," Victory said about Shells. "Now good things are going to happen."

"It's not like I was happy that my teammates were injured," said Shells. "I love my teammates. But, once they were injured, I was like, 'I'm about to step up.' I'm stepping up. Every score is definitely for them."

Millner also delivered for the Riders, collecting seven points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Sussex Tech, which was playing its second game in two nights, was led by 14 points each from Andrea Harper and Jarise Henderson.

Raven coach Wesley Townsend tried to take the loss in stride.

"CR came to play tonight, you've got to give them credit," he said. "I was telling the girls in the locker room, it's good we had a bad night. In a way it's good we lost before the playoffs. "Get it now and maybe it will humble the girls a little bit. Tonight I saw some of the girls weren't hungry. If you're going to beat a good team, everybody's got to be on the same page."

Victory, on the other hand, saw that hunger from his players. He said he would have been disappointed in them if they weren't ready to play after that earlier loss to the Ravens. "I think they embarrassed us down there at their place," said Victory. "Even though we lost by seven, they just out-worked us. They came more intense. They really got after us. "I don't mind losing to you one time like that. But I'm not going to lose to you again like that. If we didn't bring our 'A' game tonight, then we don't have it in us. Hopefully this is the beginning of something good and new."

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@newszap.com.