LRSC Men and Lady Royals finish the regular season with a pair in the win column

Article by J. Reed Anderson, Devils Lake Journal GM, February 22nd, 2018

The Lake Region State College men and lady Royals took on the Lumberjacks from Dakota College at Bottineau last night, Wednesday, in their last home game of the season. The MonDak Conference playoffs start next week. The men Royals are sitting at #3 seed after their win tonight, but the Lady Royals have to hope for a Dawson loss, otherwise it will mean a three-way tie and a couple of coin tosses. If Dawson loses, the Lady Royals are #3, but if they win and the coin falls wrong, the Lady Royals could wind up #4 seed.

The Lady Royals ruled the boards tonight. The first quarter was pretty even, and the Lady 'Jacks took an early lead, going on an 11-0 run to do it. The quarter ended with the Lady Royals up by five, 20-15.

The second quarter, and for the following two, the Royals dominated boards, and that's what really got them the win.They pulled down offensive rebound after offensive rebound—the 'Jacks couldn't get close to a board. And this was a good thing because they (and the 'Jacks) were dismal shooting from long range. The distance between the two teams was established in the second quarter with the Royals outscoring the 'Jacks 18-6.

The Royals pulled down 33 rebounds to the 'Jacks 15 in the first quarter, and 18 offensive rebounds to the 'Jacks' one.The Royals converted those offensive boards into 16 points. Shooting, especially long distance was, as said before, dismal. The Royals went 2-17 in the first half, and the 'Jacks 2-10. But, the Royals went into halftime up by 17, 38-21.

The third quarter was more of the same on the boards, but the 'Jacks mounted some offense and kept the quarter's scoring differential at five points, but it meant a Royals 22 point lead going into the fourth, 57-35.

The differential in the fourth was only three points, so the 'Jacks did a good job with the ball again in the fourth, but the Royals overall points off turnovers, their rebounding, and their second-chance points all was just too much. The final score was 75-50, Lady Royals.

Head coach Danny Mertens said the play on both sides of the ball is what he's been waiting for. "We've been harping on rebounding, especially offensively," he said, "and tonight we got on the boards. Those first half second-chance points made the difference and that was all offense. Our defense was a little light the first quarter, but the second quarter it picked up and that's what did it for us. The Lumberjacks are a good team. They beat Wapheton last week by four points, so this was no easy game. Now we're ready for second season. I think everything has come together at the right time. We're in great shape."

Maara Nelson led the Lady Royals with 18 points and nine rebounds, and four assists. Emily Schafer had 17 points and nine boards. Annie Jorgenson, who was really cold and shooting early tonight, still wound up with a double-double, 15 points and 12 boards. R'rionna Brock had five points and led with six assists, and Maggie Gilbert had seven point and four assists.