Lady Royals triumph over Tetons

Article by J. Reed Anderson, Devils Lake Journal GM, February 6th, 2018

The LRSC Lady Royals moved to 17-9 overall with big win over the Williston State College Tetons last night here at home in Devils Lake. When the two teams met last month in Williston, the Lady Royals came home with a 72-52 win. Last night, the Royals held the Tetons to only 34 points.

The game started slow, with the Royals taking a four point lead, 8-4. They started working a full court press and forced the Tetons into turnovers. The teams went out of the first quarter with the Royals up 14-6.

The second quarter was closer, but the Royals defense kept control of the game. The offense made several unforced turnovers that the Tetons made count, and the Royals had some good looks inside that just rolled around the hoop instead. The Tetons brought in their defensive wall, six-three centers Rylie Skahill and Eden Lambert, to try and seal the low block but Emily Schafer and Shay'Lee Dayman kept them from having much of an impact, and the back court defense did a good job of keeping the ball out of the paint and away from Skahill and Lambert.

Kendall Parker hit back to back threes near the end of the half, but Teton Aulora Severance hit a buzzer beater from just shy of the half court line. The quarter was only a three-point difference in scoring, but the Royals went into half time up 30-19.

The third quarter was frankly abysmal for the Tetons. A lid went on the basket and they could not buy passage through it for a ball. The Royals went on a 10-0 run until Severance went to the line for two. The Tetons had some great looks, too, right at the low block, but the ball just wouldn't fall through the bottom of the net; it just rattled around the rim and bounced out. The third quarter was a 23-4 run for the Royals, who went into the the fourth with a 53-23 lead.

The Tetons forced the lid off the rim in the fourth quarter, and they brought out the wall, which again was ineffectual. The Lady Royal defense was just too tough, and the offense did a much better job of taking care of the ball. The last three minutes the Royal defense came on really strong and they went on an 20-8 run to end the game.

The Lady Royals won 73-34.

Annie Jorgenson and Emily Schafer were on fire tonight for the Lady Royals. Jorgenson led all scorers with 19, Schafer had 18, and Maara Nelson put up 12.

"When you beat them in every statistical category," said head coach Danny Mertens, "good things will happen. I was much happier in the second half than in the first. Our energy was better in the second half and you can see it the assists: five in the first half and 15 in the second. Our defense was stellar. The shut down the Tetons and forced turnovers."