Ginuwine Tropnas/Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE, ND — Both Lake Region State College basketball teams were victorious in the Devils Lake Sports Center on Friday night.
Each team beat Minnesota North College — Vermilion in its home opener. The women’s team slaughtered the Ironhawks 101-31, while the men won a relatively closer 103-84 contest. Both teams are 3-1 to start the season.
“In the past, we’ve struggled with starting games,” LRSC women’s head coach Colden Hutton said. “But now we come out ready to go… And after that, we just kept rolling and rolling.”
Kiara Holweger had the best game of her Royals career, leading the women with 21 points. She and Elizabeth Kisolo, who also had her best game yet, each recorded double-doubles. Kisolo, working her way back from an ACL injury, had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
“Her leg’s coming along well,” Hutton said of Kisolo. “So getting more minutes as we go. But super proud of her and what she did today.”
Arden Faulkner and Sydney Schwabe continued their strong starts to the season with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
LRSC outrebounded Vermilion by a whopping 68-36 margin, and the Royals only turned the ball over seven times. They made 12 threes and shot 13-of-19 from the free throw line.
“It was a real team effort,” Hutton said. “We had 30-something assists as well, so sharing the ball and making sure to make the right reads and everything.”
On the men’s side, the Royals went into halftime with a narrow 42-38 lead. Ron Lee’s 18 points led them to victory, while Ginuwine Tropnas, Akok Ajou, Remy Devis Warrington, Poet Davis and Bronson Chambers also reached double figures. Davis and Ajou also had 10 rebounds each, giving them double-doubles.
“I was hoping we would have gotten out to a better start and really put this thing away early,” LRSC men’s head coach Jared Marshall said. “But always good to be here, and it’s good to win one in front of the home crowd.”
LRSC overcame 21 turnovers in the win. Through four games, the Royals are averaging over 101 points per game.
“The last couple years, we’ve been a defensive-minded team and our offense has struggled,” Marshall said. “And my mindset this year coming in was, ‘Let’s score some points and then work on the defense.’ And that’s gonna be our point of attention throughout the year.”
As Hutton indicated, there were no early-game jitters for the LRSC women’s team this time around, playing on the home floor for the first time this season. The Royals led 24-6 at the end of the first quarter and 47-14 at halftime. The only quarter where they even allowed a double-digit point total was the fourth.
The team has thrived while playing only seven kids. Brinly Gregory and Morgan Leas are yet to appear in a game for LRSC, as both are dealing with injuries. Hutton expressed optimism that they’ll both be back within the next couple weeks.
All in all, it was a cake walk for the Royals’ women. But it was only their first home game in a season that still has months to go.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Hutton said. “I love how we compete, and I’m proud of the girls, for only seven of us, so we just keep attacking and keep grinding every day. But we’ve got a long ways to go. We’re not settling.”
The men’s game got off to a slow scoring start for both teams. But three-pointers from Chambers and Davis gave LRSC a 6-1 lead, and after an and-one by Tropnas, it was 9-4.
Tropnas and Lee tied for the most first-half points for the Royals with seven. Chambers and Ajou had six each. But Vermilion consistently found ways to answer whenever LRSC put up a bucket, and it was only a four-point game at the half.
“We were just trying to do too much,” Marshall said. “And I just thought, overall, it was kind of an energy thing. We were just kind of out there existing… They had their moments, but consistently, as a team, we weren’t getting the job done. I thought we had a lot of open looks we should have made.”
The Ironhawks made it as close as 42-40, but the Royals started to spread the scoring around and extend their gap. A three-pointer and a layup back-to-back by Lee brought the lead to double digits at 53-42.
“Ron’s a big-time energy guy, and I love him in that role off the bench,” Marshall said. “It was just his night tonight. And it’s great we kind of have that firepower coming off the bench for us.”
Davis, who led LRSC in scoring in each of the first three games, was limited to three points in the first half. He ended up scoring seven in the second half to at least get to double digits.
“He was pressing a little bit,” Marshall said. “I just chalk that up to nerves… He just needs to let the game come to him sometimes, and not put so much pressure on himself to be great and score 30 every night. We don’t always need that. He can trust his teammates.”
And despite the slow start for both teams offensively, it morphed into a shootout anyway as the second half wore on. Mat Mudingay swished a couple of threes off the bench to finish with eight points, and six Royals ended up in double figures.
They also allowed 46 points in the second half, bringing their average through four games to 94.5 points allowed per contest.
“All week, we worked on winning our one-on-one battles with the guy in front of us,” Marshall said. “We’re still just not great at the point of attack, and we need to do a better job stopping our guy immediately in front of us.”
After wrapping up this two-game homestand on Saturday, the Royals won’t be back home until Dec. 4. Both teams play on Friday and Saturday in Williston against North Idaho College and Rocky Mountain JV.
