Remy Davis Warrington (Photo by Noah Clooten)
While madness ensued in high school football at the Fargodome Friday, the Lake Region State College basketball teams were over on the opposite side of the state.
Each team won a pair of games between Friday and Saturday in the Williston State College Classic.
The LRSC hockey teams were also in action this weekend. The men played at Burdick Arena, while the women were down at Iowa State. The men lost both games while the women split.
Basketball teams stay hot
The men’s basketball squad won Friday and Saturday to extend its winning streak to four. The Royals are now 5-2 on the young season.
They beat Turtle Mountain Community College 129-73 on Friday. The 129 points was LRSC’s most in a game since Nov. 24, 2019, when it put up 37 on Turtle Mountain.
The Royals had a commanding 64-29 lead by halftime.
Despite the big point total, no singular player carried the load. Instead, LRSC utilized its deep bench to put baskets together. There were five players in double figures: Cooper Adams with 17, Alvin Payne with 15, Akok Ajou with 12, Derrick Lee Jr. with 11 and Dalen Leftbear with 10.
Among those five, four were starters. The lone non-starter to score double-digit points was Lee Jr., a transfer from Division-I Kent State University. Before Friday, he hadn’t been getting a lot of minutes. Head coach Jared Marshall said he’d been struggling. But he got 14 minutes off the bench Friday and put forth his best game yet.
Remy Davis Warrington rounded out the starting five with nine points.
Dane Hagler also returned from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for a few games. He scored nine points off the bench. Fellow North Dakotan Little Hail Perkins added eight. The Royals got seven each from Quyavant Douglas, Brennan Johnson and Ashton Munro.
The Royals had a whopping 100 shot attempts and made 51 of them. They shot 38.1% from three.
Ikhuoria Osezojie was their leading rebounder with 11. LRSC outrebounded Turtle Mountain 62-35 overall.
Then on Saturday, the Royals beat Rocky Mountain JV 103-81.
Warrington had a big game with 26 points and seven rebounds. It was a career-high scoring night for him at the college level.
Last year, Warrington played in 31 games while starting in 16. He scored 183 points all season. This year, he’s started in all seven games and already has 97 points.
Payne was second on the team with 18 on Saturday. Douglas also got a start, with Adams out. He added 17 points and 10 rebounds.
LRSC had a slim 49-44 lead at halftime but outscored Rocky Mountain by 17 in the second half.
On the women’s side, the Royals have now won four of their last five after winning both games in Williston. Their record on the season is 3-3, with the Saturday win over Rocky Mountain technically being counted as an exhibition game.
On Friday, it was a 99-47 victory against Turtle Mountain. Seven players appeared for LRSC, and six of them scored in double figures. The one who didn’t, Brooke Welle, had 11 rebounds. It was Welle’s LRSC debut after coming back from an early-season injury.
Torri Fee, a game after scoring 20 points and going 6-of-8 from three, had another huge game with 25 points, as she went 6-of-8 from three again. And she did it all off the bench.
The Devils Lake native has provided a big boost since returning from volleyball.
Ayiana Gray added 16 points off the bench.
Lara Graham had the most points among the starters with 18 points. Sydney Schwabe got her first start of the year and scored 16. Zoie Austin, the team’s overall leading scorer this season, had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
LRSC shot 45.6% from the field and made 17 threes. It gave the Royals 211 points in their last two games, with 35 combined triples.
On Saturday, the Royals shot about 8% lower but still got it done with a 74-57 win over Rocky Mountain JV. Austin led them with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Schwabe had 14 points, while Graham had 13.
Fee stayed hot with 11 off the bench.
The men’s team hosts Mayville State JV on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The women’s next games are Saturday and Sunday at Hamline University.
Hockey teams get into the middle of their season
The LRSC hockey teams combined to go 1-3 this weekend.
The men’s team, after winning five in a row to start the season 5-1, has now lost four straight to fall to 7-7.
The Royals dropped two close home games against South Dakota State on Friday and Saturday.
LRSC got goals from Chael Rozdeba, Rigley Astle, Dylan Schneider and Logan Dearborn on Friday. Goalie Jaden Kleinjan made 39 saves. But the Royals were outshot 56-44 and dropped the contest 5-4.
On Saturday, LRSC led 2-1 after the first period but gave up three goals over the final two periods in a 4-2 loss. Donnovin Fiorentino and Griffin Anderson scored the Royals’ goals. Carson Cronquist made 55 saves, but the Jackrabbits outshot the Royals 59-27.
The women’s team played at Iowa State on Saturday and Sunday. LRSC won the first and lost the second, moving to 4-4 on the season.
In a 6-3 win over Iowa State on Saturday, Jordyn Johnson scored her third and fourth goals of the season to lead the Royals. Veronica Asquith also added her team-high 10th goal.
After neither team scored in the first period, Iowa State went up 2-0 in the second. LRSC went on to score four unanswered goals, sparked by Asquith’s. Johnson had the final two goals to give LRSC some breathing room.
Devils Lake alum Mathea Nelson was in the net for the whole game. She made 27 saves in 30 attempts. The Royals’ offense had 40 shot attempts of its own.
LRSC lost 4-2 on Sunday to cap the road trip. Mataya Hall scored her first goal of the season, tying it at 1-1 in the first period. Paisley Branden scored in the second period to cut the Royals’ deficit to 3-2 at the time.
Goalie Keira Kawula made 26 saves in 30 attempts. The Royals also had 30 shot attempts.
The men’s team now travels to play the University of Montana on Friday and Saturday. The women play at Jamestown on Sunday.
