Zoie Austin dribbles down the court for LRSC. (Photo by Cameron Carlson)
DEVILS LAKE — Two days after letting a lead get away against Dawson Community College, the Lake Region State College women’s basketball team almost did the same against United Tribes Technical College.
The Royals, though, were able to fend off a late UTTC comeback attempt and defend their home court. LRSC (12-8, 3-2) won 75-67 over the Thunderbirds (10-8, 1-3) on Wednesday.
“Anytime we can get a win and learn from a win is great, but we’ve got to be better at closing out games,” Royals head coach Colden Hutton said. “In Dawson, we were up 16 in the third with five minutes left. Blew that one. This one, we were up at the third, probably 20-something, and fell apart a little bit, too. So we’ve just got to be able to play with the lead. But again, proud of us. We got a stop when we needed a stop to kind of turn that thing around.”
LRSC led by as many as 22.
UTTC’s scoring came mostly in a hot streak at the beginning, and another at the end. The Thunderbirds hit five triples in the first quarter, including two by Tracelyn Strand.
“We knew they could shoot. And we kind of started off trying to go under screens. They kept sending them deeper, deeper, deeper, which led them to do a lot of live-dribble threes off of it.”
The Royals hit six threes of their own in the opening quarter. The quarter had four lead changes and four ties. Sydney Schwabe hit two triples, while Devils Lake native Torri Fee hit a pair off the bench. Zoie Austin led LRSC in the quarter with seven points.
It was 24-24 after an eventful first quarter.
“‘Shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot’ is our motto,” Hutton said. “Sometimes it helps us a lot, and sometimes it hurts us a lot. But I thought tonight, we shot it really well.”
The Royals quieted the Thunderbirds down significantly in the second and third quarters to build a lead. UTTC had just two field goals in the second quarter. It made four field goals in the third, all from two players.
The Thunderbirds didn’t hit any threes in that stretch.
“We made the adjustment in the second half to get over screens, which really changed that and limited them there,” Hutton said. “But overall, I think it’s just a mindset for us. If we go in with the mindset every quarter that, hey, we’re going to hold them to under 10 points, I think we could do it. But we don’t always come in with that mindset.”
Redshirt sophomore Jenna Tierney, after zero points in the first quarter, got going in the second with nine points. She ended up second on the team with 18 on the evening.
“Jenna played a really good game offensively for us, and defensively, too,” Hutton said. “And we kind of are looking for her to step up. And she stepped up big-time today.”
Tierney’s outburst helped LRSC build a 42-32 lead by the half. The Royals forced a shot clock violation to finish an eight-point defensive quarter.
Austin, LRSC’s leading scorer this season, had a big third quarter with 11 points. As part of a 9-0 run, she made a steal and got fouled on the breakaway, then made both free throws. Lara Graham added her second triple of the game.
The Royals stretched their lead as wide as 58-36.
They were helped out on the boards by Danielle McNamara, who led the team with 10 rebounds. Their leading rebounder on the season, Caitlin Hull, had six rebounds but got into foul trouble.
“Caitlin does all the dirty work for us, and then Dani has progressively gotten better and better and better at getting boards for us,” Hutton said. “And she did a really good job on No. 22 [Kaycee Desjarlais] tonight. She had her, and kind of locked her up. If [Ronessa] Sazue and her are both going at it, then we’re in trouble.”
Desjarlais had four points in the first half and none in the second. Sazue led UTTC with 28 points on the night.
“Sazue’s probably going to be an all-conference first team player. She had her night tonight,” Hutton said. “But we’ve just got to kind of go back to the drawing board and see what we can do to stop her next time.”
With the game looking all but locked up, the Royals had the rug pulled out from under them in the fourth quarter. UTTC outscored LRSC 27-9 over a stretch, including a 14-0 run to make it as close as 67-63.
The Royals suddenly struggled to finish drives. The Thunderbirds began playing aggressively. They also got some threes to land again, hitting four in the fourth quarter, with two from Sapphire Lablanc.
The Royals went from leading by 22 to having to sweat.
“Our defensive intensity wasn’t there,” Hutton said. “In the third quarter, we really got after all the 50-50s. And I think, I mean, if you were to pull up the 50-50 stat, we probably won 90% of the 50-50s in the third, and that totally flipped 180 in the fourth quarter. I think a little bit is fatigue, being tired, but we’ve got to kind of build to be more mentally tough through that fatigue and tiredness.”
Austin had a huge and-one to get LRSC back on the board. She led the Royals with 21 points. Hull hit a three off the bench and made a reverse layup.
The Thunderbirds ran out of time, down multiple possessions. And so the Royals’ advantage in the middle of the game was enough to win them the contest.
Things don’t get much easier for them. They’ll travel to Williston State College on Monday to play a team that’s not only first in the Mon-Dak, at 20-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play, but has received votes in the national poll.
“But it’s fun,” Hutton said. “It’s fun to go play a team receiving votes, on the road, for probably first place in the conference, to be honest. And it’ll be a nice challenge for us. A little bit different; they don’t really have a big that is a menace down there. They play more guards, kind of similar to what we do. So it’ll be a fun night. Got to get back in transition. But hopefully we can go to The Well and knock off a receiving-votes team.”
