It’s postseason time for Lake Region State College.
The men’s and women’s teams will compete in the Region XIII playoffs this week.
The men’s team plays this Sunday. The Royals, seeded fifth out of five teams, will travel to Montana to take on No. 4 seed Miles Community College at 3 p.m. MT (4 p.m. CT).
LRSC finished the regular season 13-17 overall and 3-9 in Mon-Dak Athletic Conference play. The Royals were 1-7 against Region XIII teams.
The lone win was against the MCC team they’ll be playing on Sunday. LRSC beat the Pioneers 94-84 on Feb. 8 for its second consecutive conference win. The Royals had gotten off to an 0-6 start in conference play.
They fell 84-72 in the teams’ first meeting in January.
The Pioneers, statistically, have the worst offense in the Mon-Dak with 82.4 points per game. LRSC, on the other hand, has the worst defense in the conference, having allowed 94 points per game. The Royals allowed 134 points in two of their last three conference games of the regular season.
LRSC has the third-best offense in the Mon-Dak, while MCC has the fifth-best defense.
The winner of Sunday’s game advances to play No. 1 seed North Dakota State College of Science on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Wahpeton.
Although the Royals dropped all six matchups with the top three seeds in the regular season, one of their losses to NDSCS was a tight 95-89 affair. And one of their losses to No. 2 seed Dawson Community College was 90-87.
It’s a question, as head coach Jared Marshall said all season long, of which Royals team will show up.
The women, meanwhile, earned a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed in the region. They’ll match up with No. 2 seed NDSCS on Wednesday, March 4, at 5:30 p.m. in Wahpeton.
Head coach Colden Hutton recently noted how the Royals played the Wildcats in last year’s postseason, too, and nearly pulled off the upset. LRSC has been a better and deeper team in Hutton’s second year at the helm, with a 17-11 overall record and 7-5 conference mark.
The Royals are 3-5 against Region XIII teams, with four losses to the top two seeds.
LRSC’s previous scores against NDSCS were 73-59 and 78-64 in favor of the Wildcats.
The Royals, though, are averaging slightly more points per game than NDSCS, with 75.3 compared to 73.7. Those marks are second and third-best in the conference, respectively. The Royals are led by Zoie Austin’s 18.3.
The Wildcats have the second-best defense in the Mon-Dak with 59.7 points allowed, while LRSC has the third-best at 65.3.
The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to the Region XIII championship. The opponent will likely be No. 1 Williston State College, one of the top-ranked teams nationally in NJCAA Division 1.
Despite the Royals’ solid regular season, they still have a tough draw ahead of them.
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