Northland hands Lady Royals first loss

Article by Chuck Wickenhofer, Devils Lake Journal Sports, November 12th, 2016.

After starting the season 4-0, the Royals had their streak come to an end against the No. 1 ranked Northland Pioneers 62-50.

Though the Royals were stymied offensively throughout the game, shooting 27 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range, they were able to build a 12-5 lead over the Pioneers early. 

Lake Region used its full court press to build their advantage, but got into early foul trouble against the bigger team.

After building a 14-12 lead in the first quarter, the Royals struggled in the second, managing just six points. The Pioneers seemed to score at will inside while managing to consistently break the Royals' press.

Head coach Danny Mertens pointed out his team's size disadvantage and lack of success offensively as two key reasons the Royals struggled Saturday night.

"Their physicality hurt us a little bit and we struggled shooting the ball," Mertens said. "That's something we have to get over."

The Pioneers not only had a clear size advantage, but a record of success. They entered the season having lost only one game last year, which came in the NJCAA tournament against last year's Royals team.

"Let's give them credit. They're the number one team in the country in Division III and they only had one loss last year," Mertens said.

"They haven't lost too many games and they're a good program."

Though the Royals came out of the third quarter trailing 42-32, they were able to pull within three points early as Cassidy Nelson was able to get her inside game going and sophomore guard Helen Schuster got hot from three point range.

The offensive attack stalled late in the game as freshman guard Emily Schafer fouled out and the Pioneers clamped down on defense on the way to a 12-point victory.

Though his team lost their first game of the season, Mertens was able to find some positives in the way the Royals played against their top-ranked opponent.

"We almost doubled them in shot attempts, 30 turnovers, 17 offensive rebounds and we lose. We should win those games," Mertens said.

"Defensively we're there. We have good energy, we just need to knock some shots down."

Schuster scored 11 points and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Nelson had 11 points and six rebounds in the losing effort.

Forward Madison Stenzel led the Pioneers with 22 points and five rebounds