LRSC’s Sydney Schwabe (5) and Bottineau’s Ava Gourd (21) look on. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
DEVILS LAKE — The Lumberjacks stuck around for most of Lake Region State College’s home conference opener.
But the Royals (8-7, 1-1) pulled away late, grabbing their first conference victory with a 74-55 win over Dakota College at Bottineau (2-15, 0-2) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
LRSC previously beat Bottineau 83-37 in the November pre-conference tournament.
“Bottineau was way better than the first time we played them. Adding those two players at semester really helped them,” LRSC head coach Colden Hutton said. “But again, I don’t think we played our best. The first half, obviously, we didn’t shoot very well, which doesn’t help the case. But we’ve got to make that adjustment a little bit sooner and be able to attack it downhill, draw fouls, things like that. But I’d rather learn from a win that wasn’t pretty than learn from losses.”
Nearly five minutes into the game, Bottineau hadn’t scored yet. LRSC led 10-0. It looked like it might be a repeat of November’s thrashing.
But the Jacks strung together a 12-0 run. They had two triples in that stretch, including a go-ahead shot by Bailey Clott.
Scoring was a grind for LRSC in the first half. The Royals missed their first 15 three-point attempts. Sydney Schwabe and Zoie Austin did the bulk of the early scoring by getting inside.
“We’re fourth in the country in three-point makes, and fourth in the country in three-point attempts,” Hutton said. “So, I mean, we get them up. We shoot a ton. But just realizing that, hey, we’re 1-of-16 in the first half, putting an emphasis on getting downhill. And once we get that ball to fall, now we can kick it out and get open ones.”
Bottineau’s Ava Gourd made a basket to tie it at 16-16. Gourd, a Four Winds alum, is first cousins with current Four Winds star Suri Gourd, who was in attendance Sunday with her dad and the whole Lady Indians basketball team.
Gourd later hit two triples in the second half to finish with 12 points overall.
Devils Lake’s own Torri Fee gave LRSC the lead back in the first half. The Jacks’ fourth triple of the half made it a three-point game, but Schwabe knocked down a three right at the buzzer.
It was the first made triple of the game for the Royals. It gave them a 32-26 lead at halftime.
Schwabe and Austin were key in building the second-half lead. Schwabe hit two more triples, while Austin got to the rim to add six points to her line. Schwabe ended up leading LRSC with 28, while Austin had 17.
“Sydney is kind of our floor general there. She does a lot for us,” Hutton said. “And she can score as well. Having 28 tonight is really good for us. But then having Zoie as well, when Sydney either comes off the court, needs a break or just needs to not bring the ball up, Zoie can do the exact same thing, and getting downhill and creating for us. But having those two really helps us, and will help us make a run at this thing as we go on.”
The Royals still led by six after three quarters, but they widened it to double digits with a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter. A 12-0 run late in the game sealed up the win.
They finished 7-for-29 from three-point range.
Jenna Tierney broke out in the final 10 minutes. She scored 12 points after just three up until then. Schwabe scored nine of her points in the fourth quarter — including 4-of-4 free throw shooting.
Schwabe went 9-for-9 from the line overall. LRSC, as a team, went 19-for-23.
It was a vast improvement from the Royals’ 6-for-16 performance in their conference-opening loss to North Dakota State College of Science.
“We shoot better from the free throw line, it’s a whole different game at Science,” Hutton said. “But here, to see the adjustment, being able to step up and knock free throws down obviously helps. Being at home, and being used to the backdrop and things like that. But, again, we’ve got to keep moving on this. Keep being a good free throw shooting them, but then making those adjustments as we go as well, for Mayville [State University] on Tuesday.”
The Royals’ next three games are on the road, including conference games on Sunday and Monday. They’ll host United Tribes Technical College on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Royals welcome a new player to their locker room
LRSC was down to seven active, healthy players. Hutton said there’s a chance Kiritiana Patea could come back, but she’s still making a decision regarding her knee.
With numbers getting a little low, the Royals made a recent addition to their roster, one who might be familiar to Royals fans: volleyball player Lexie Shearer.
“Her first practice was yesterday,” Hutton said. “At the end of the game, was maybe going to put her in, but she didn’t want to go in. But down the stretch there, as we go, we’ll need another body and another post player, for sure. And so hopefully she can help us and kind of be there for us.”
Shearer recently completed her second year on the LRSC volleyball team. She was a key piece in helping those Royals achieve one of the best seasons in program history.
Hutton said she played many sports in high school. Shearer was born in Glenboro, Manitoba.
“At breakfast today, she was bragging about playing badminton and curling and all this other stuff,” Hutton said. “But she was also a really good basketball player as well. She was all-state up there in basketball. … But obviously, taking two years off from basketball, she just has to get back and used to it.
“And I was telling our girls as well, I mean, it might not seem like we’ve learned a lot this semester, but we’ve learned a lot. And so just getting her accustomed to what we do and how we do things, and go from there with her.”
