Lady Royals fall in opening round of NJCAA Women's National Tournament
The Lady Royals season came to an end in the opening round on the NJCAA women's national tournament tonight in Lubbock, TX. The game featured the #20 Lady Royals taking on the #13 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
The Lady Royals season came to an end in the opening round on the NJCAA women's national tournament tonight in Lubbock, TX. The game featured the #20 Lady Royals taking on the #13 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
They say basketball is a game of runs the problem was all the runs tonight were had by NEOK. Freshman Cassidy Nelson came in and gave good minutes when Krystal Flowers got in foul trouble early. She carried the scoring in the 1st, scoring 7 of 11 total points. The Royals played solid and only trailed 20-11 when the 1st quarter came to an end. Not much else went right for them after that. NEOK used a 9-2 run to start the 2nd to extend the lead close to 20. A few Royals turnovers and missed layups hurt their chances of putting a stop to it. The NEOK lead got to almost 30 after a 14-0 to end the second. They took a commanding 45-17 lead into halftime.
Any hope the Royals had of climbing back into it coming out of halftime was put to rest by the last run that did the Royals in. A 10-0 one to start the 3rd was the dagger that put the game out of reach. This run was the culmination of a 10:50 drought over the 2nd and 3rd where the Royals did not score a point. During that time NEOK went on a 24-0 run.
The Royals continued to battle and play tough throughout the game but struggled to shoot the ball all night. They finished the day shooting 21% from the field and 17% from 3. Cassidy Nelson led the Royals with 17 points and 9 rebounds. She was the only one in double figures. NEOK had 4 players score double figures. As a team they shot 49% from the field and 50%from 3.
After the game Coach Danny Mertens talked about the Royals struggles shooting the ball saying, "It's tough. We were getting good looks. We just missed a lot of layups tonight." Whatever disappointment there may have been by Coach Mertens and his team the message was clear after the game, he wanted his girls to hold their head up high. Especially, the sophomores, "They have won 53 games over 2 years. They have won 2 MonDak championships, 2 Region Championships, 2 District Championships, and 2 trips to the National Tournament. They have nothing to hang their heads about." He continued to say, "Those sophomores will always hold a special place in my heart for all they have done for me and this program."
The Lady Royals finished the season 27-7.
