The Lake Region State College women’s basketball team saw its magic run out Sunday afternoon. Struggles making layups prevented the Royals from keeping up with United Tribes Technical College’s three-point attack, and the Thunderbirds took them down 65-54 at Devils Lake Sports Center.
LRSC’s (12-7, 5-5) nine-game winning streak came to an end, while United Tribes Technical College (6-11, 4-7) ended a five-game losing skid.
“A lot of lapses defensively. I felt like every time we had a lapse, it led to them making a three,” Royals head coach Ryan Clark said. “Obviously missed a ton of gimmies, which we’ve just gotta find a way to finish those.”
They made just 28.1% of their field goals, and only 25.9% in the first half. The Thunderbirds were only marginally better at 30.2%, but the big difference was 11 three-pointers on 28 attempts.
LRSC has been a defense-minded team all season, so a lower scoring game is to be expected. But the Royals were facing a UTTC team that had allowed 75.7 points per game coming into the day, and it took them nearly four minutes to make their first basket.
Down 7-0, a layup by Kelsey Crossan got LRSC on the board.
“I thought we got good looks, we just didn’t make shots,” Clark said. “It’s obviously frustrating when you don’t, but it’s also part of basketball.”
Tyleigh Brady had a steal and a bucket for UTTC, and Sunni Belgarde followed with a three that put the Thunderbirds up 14-6.
The Royals finished the quarter with four straight points, all on free throws. It was free throws that kept them in it in the early going; they had only two non-free throw baskets during the entire first quarter.
“We’re trying to get into the paint and be aggressive,” Clark said.
Natalie DeCoteau opened the second quarter with a three-pointer, turning those four free throws into an 11-0 run for LRSC. After a sluggish first quarter, the Royals were playing with more energy after their first — and what turned out to be their only — three of the game. DeCoteau, who led LRSC’s scoring with 15 points, helped the team get out to a 17-14 lead.
“Natalie’s awesome every game,” Clark said. “It doesn’t always look like it on the point-scoring board, but she’s always awesome. She guards, she defends, she takes care of the ball, gets others into the game.”
A three by UTTC’s Alionna Lawrence tied it back up. That was the first of four threes in the quarter for the Thunderbirds, who went into halftime with a 31-27 lead.
Along with that early second-quarter surge, it was really the free throws that were keeping the Royals within striking distance. They were a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line in the first half, while the Thunderbirds didn’t have a single free throw attempt.
But neither of those streaks lasted long in the second half. Tiyahna Trottier made just one of her two free throw attempts in the third quarter, while Lawrence made all four of her attempts.
Lawrence and Jenna Sanders also each had a three-pointer for UTTC, which bookended the Thunderbirds’ scoring in the quarter. DeCoteau briefly tied the game at 36-36, but Lawrence’s second set of free throws put UTTC back in front.
Another basket by DeCoteau brought the Royals within a 41-38 deficit at the end of the third quarter.
Despite fighting to stay in the game, LRSC couldn’t clean up the problems that plagued the team all game — namely the missed layups and threes on the other side. Two more missed layups by the Royals followed another Lawrence three-pointer, extending the margin to five points. The Royals had a prime opportunity to score after nabbing a steal, but Anisah Wolf missed a layup. DeCoteau, who had a strong game overall, even missed a layup of her own.
“We’re not gonna beat a dead horse,” Clark said. “They know that they could have made plenty of those.”
DeCoteau redeemed herself with a successful layup shortly after her miss, getting LRSC back to 48-43, but a Kyla Fitzgerald missed layup disrupted that brief spurt of momentum. UTTC had a 9-0 run that came on three consecutive three-pointers by three different players, the last of which followed a Royals timeout.
With a double-digit deficit — down 54-43 — and just about five minutes to play, the game was essentially over right there.
The Thunderbirds’ final eight points of the game all came on free throws, a far cry from the first half when they didn’t have a single one. UTTC ended up finishing 16-of-17 from the free throw line, all coming in the second half. The Royals, meanwhile, only made 4-of-8 in the second half after a perfect first half.
“I thought we probably could have had some more free throws, potentially,” Clark said. “I thought there were some that we left on the table.”
It was an 11-point loss for LRSC in the end. A magical winning streak that turned this team’s season around ended on a frustrating, anticlimactic note, losing a winnable game against a worse team record-wise, largely due to unforced errors on the Royals’ part.
“That nine-game win streak didn’t help us today, and this loss is not gonna affect us on Wednesday,” Clark said. “So we’ll regroup Monday, tomorrow, and start working towards Science. Great opponent and great opportunity.”
The Royals will try to bounce back against North Dakota State College of Science (17-3, 10-1) at home on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Joseph “Mojo” Hill is a reporter covering Lake Region sports for the Devils Lake Journal. Contact him on Twitter @mojohill22 or at jhill@devilslakejournal.com for any tips, questions or story ideas.
