After leading scorer Noelle Tomes went down with a sprained Achilles against Mounds View on Jan. 19, East Ridge knew it’d need contributions from several players to make up 17 points per game from Tomes.

“We talked among ourselves and said ‘someone’s going to have to do something they don’t normally do’,” Raptors coach Glen Wurm said.

That someone was Mariah Sexe. She poured in a 26 points, a point shy of her season-high, to lead her team to a 61-53 victory over Suburban East Conference foe Cretin-Derham Hall Thursday night at East Ridge High School.

Sexe converted five of her final six free throws in the waning six minutes of the game to thwart a late comeback by the Raiders and extend the Raptors' winning streak to eight games.

Ranked eighth in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News, East Ridge (15-3, 8-1) has seen an array of different players emerge to lead the team in Tomes' absence.

The Raptors boast an all-senior starting lineup that went through growing pains as freshmen and sophomores, but have since emerged as a threat in the east metro with four collegiate bound players, including two Division I-committed posts in Sexe (Lehigh University) and Kelen Kenol (Austin Peay State University).

“I’ve coached for a lot of years and haven’t had a post on the roster, and to have the quality of posts I have had the past several years has been pretty special -- I’ll never complain about that,” Wurm said.

The frontcourt duo’s high-low chemistry on offense proved difficult for the No. 16-4A Raiders (9-7, 5-4) to contain. Kenol said that their skill forces teams to pick their poison and usually when one is held in check, the other is rewarded.

Emma Stoehr saw extra minutes in Thursday’s game and was crucial to the Raptors attack as a cutter when Cretin-Derham Hall had to respect Sexe on the perimeter.

Kenol, who transferred from Austin, Texas, her sophomore year, said that’s how the team functions by complimenting each other.

“Playing with them for three years you learn a lot about their style of play and how they can contribute to your positives and help you fix things you do wrong,” Kenol said.

East Ridge has a five-day turnaround before they face the Raiders again on Tuesday, this time on the road against a young Cretin-Derham Hall team that features an all-underclassmen starting lineup and has three seniors on the roster.

“We have a lot respect for (the Raiders). We don’t overlook any team, and certainly not them because we know what they’re capable of -- It’s a fight every time we play them,” Wurm said.

Sophomore forward Frannie Hottiner led the Raiders with 17 points Thursday night.

The Raptors are atop the Suburban East Conference standings, which is primarily the Class 4A, Section 4 field, and East Ridge aims to earn the top-seed and contend for a trip to state -- the school's first-ever in its eight-year history.

"I think it gives us a lot of motivation and excitement. If we know we’ve beaten teams in the past it gives us that extra oomph that we can beat them again," Sexe said.

Mariah Sexe sank five of her final six free throws to post a game-high 26 points that paced East Ridge to a 61-53 win against Suburban East Conference opponent Cretin-Derham Hall Thursday night at East Ridge High School.

Ranked eighth in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News, the Raptors (15-3, 8-1) extended their winning streak to eight games by closing the first half on a 14-7 run.

Frannie Hottinger scored 17 points as the No. 16-4A Raiders' (9-7, 5-4) leading scorer, while Emma Stoehr scored 13 for East Ridge.