FORT TOTTEN — The Lake Region State College women’s basketball team has now won four of its last five conference games.
The Royals (16-10, 6-4) avenged a 59-58 loss to Dawson Community College (6-20, 4-5), beating the Buccaneers 84-74 on Monday at Four Winds Community High School. They’d let a 16-point lead get away in their previous meeting — this time, they held on.
“First two times, in New Town and then at their place, had leads and just couldn’t find a way to finish,” LRSC head coach Colden Hutton said. “To start the fourth quarter, it looked like it was going to go the same way. But we rebounded, we figured out the last eight minutes — how to win the 50-50s, that was the key. When we play together, we win the 50-50 battle, we’re a really tough team to beat.”
A 10-0 run to open the game separated the Royals.
It was the polar opposite from last time they played on an unfamiliar court, when they got off to a slow start in Cando.
“We started the game really on fire,” Hutton said. “And then having the college line helps; at North Star, we didn’t have the college line. But here we have the college line. So our spacing was a little bit better. And it might just be the blue gym. Playing in a blue gym; we’re blue. So that might have helped a little bit as well.”
Lara Graham opened the game hot, hitting three triples in the first quarter and making 5-of-8 in the half. Sydney Schwabe and Ayiana Gray added threes — Gray’s a bank shot — as the Royals led by as many as 11.
The Bucs inched closer with runs of 5-0 and 6-0 in the second quarter. Barcelona, Spain, native Julia Aragon, their leading scorer, put up 15 in the first half despite going 1-for-4 from the free throw line. Tailee Bird added 10.
DCC cut the Royals’ lead as close as 35-29 in the first half.
Danielle McNamara hit a three at the buzzer for LRSC, making it 44-33 at halftime. It was the eighth three of the half for the Royals, with Graham leading the way with five triples and 17 points. She led LRSC with 20 on the afternoon.
McNamara was third on the team with 12 points.
“Really good for her. Able to pick and pop, which is nice,” Hutton said. “Last year, we didn’t really have a big that could really pick and pop.”
The Bucs held Zoie Austin in check in the second and third quarter. She had just two points and no field goals in that span.
She scored six and 11 points, respectively, though, in the first and fourth quarter. She totaled 19.
“The first quarter, she comes out, facilitates for us,” Hutton said. “And then the second and third quarter, they do a really good job of getting in the gaps. So we’ve got to be able to read that, that they’re loading the gaps, and be able to kick those out, and then be able to hit those shots. And, I mean, at times, we’re really good at that. At times, we’re not very good at that. And that’s something that we’ve got to improve on and get going if we really want to hang this banner.”
Early in the fourth quarter, the Bucs gave themselves some extra chances and scored the first five points of the period. They had LRSC’s lead down to three points after a 15-6 stretch.
“They’re scrappy,” Hutton said. “Their press is wild. It’s chaotic. And we get caught up in the game at times, and then we just started throwing it around and stuff.”
Jenna Tierney had an and-one to move LRSC back in the right direction. After that, the Royals never led by fewer than six points.
Austin and McNamara combined for 19 points in the fourth quarter.
“When we were able to just breathe, take our breath, kind of execute what we do, we handled it and then made a run there at the end to keep the lead and end up winning the game,” Hutton said.
DCC drew a bench warning late in the third quarter after head coach Todd Ciochetto’s string of arguing with the refs.
The Royals won by 10 in the end.
With a 6-4 conference record, they sit in third place in the Mon-Dak. DCC is fourth at 4-5, while Miles Community College is fifth at 4-6.
A third-place finish would line LRSC up with second-place North Dakota State College of Science in the first round of the playoffs.
“A place where we went last year and almost beat them at their place in the playoffs,” Hutton said. “But a place that is tough to play. The depth is a little bit different. But if we come out with our energy, we play together, we’re a tough team to beat, and we can go pull that upset over there.”
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