High Hopes for LRSC Women's Basketball Team

Article by Sam Herder, Devils Lake Journal Sports, October 31st, 2016.

The pressure hasn't let up for the Lake Region State College women's basketball team after another trip to the national tournament last season. The freshmen learned how to handle high expectations from the sophomores, and now those freshmen have quickly turned into the leaders of the program.

The Royals return four sophomores and a sophomore transfer to a team looking to stay on top of the Mon-Dak Conference.

"We started last year as soon as the season was over and I took Cassidy Nelson, Helen Schuster, Kenzie Irwin and Jadyn Fee and said 'this is your team now,'" LRSC head coach Danny Mertens said. "They've done a good job with the freshmen, leading them on and off the court."

Add in Annie Jorgenson, a transfer from Bismarck State College and a Leeds native, and Mertens sees a lot of points on the court.

"I think we're going to be able to shoot it," Mertens said. "I can go down to Mikayla Wallace and Emily Schafer as far as freshmen and then you throw the two Hanson girls from Grafton and you throw Helen and Annie Jorgenson in there, we're going to be able to shoot. And I think we're going to be a lot faster. There's a lot of speed out there. We won't be too big. But we'll be able to play 94 feet."

LRSC has played in 16 straight regional championships. The "X" on its back gets bigger every year. The Royals lose All-American Kennedy Henningsgard, and are looking to spread out those lost points. Nelson came on late last year with a double-digit points per game average. Most of the sophomores came off the bench last season and will be looked at to step into starting roles.

"Helen will have to fill Kennedy's role I hope," Mertens said. "That will be her role and her's to lose. You'll have to look out for Emily Schafer, too. She had to play in the post last year, but she'll play a 2 or a 3 spot for us. We'll look at her to shoot. Annie can shoot it, too, so we'll look at those three to also fill in with some points."

LRSC begins its season on Nov. 2. Its first six games will come at home as LRSC looks for a quick start to its season. As always, expectations are high.

"The ultimate goal is a national tournament," Mertens said. "But we always break it down. My first goal, which is kind of funny, is to win at Bismarck. It's the only place I've never won. Second goal is to win 20 games. Third goal is win the conference. Fourth goal is to win the region. And this year, you have to go to Chicago to win the district and go to nationals. You just have to check them off one at a time."