Ladies Win, Men Fall vs. WSC
Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, February 23rd, 2020
Lake Region State College closed out its regular season at home Sunday, Feb. 23 with its annual Samaritan's Feet game with the coaches roaming the sideline bare footed. And while the Lady Royals' game against Williston State College was won by a couple of feet, the men's game was separated by miles.
Sophomore Jordyn Worley, playing in the Sports Center for the final time, scored 34 points on 13-for-19 shooting and had 10 rebounds as the Royals used a 10-0 run over the final three minutes to come away with the 75-65 win over the Tetons.
"It has been a tough week for all of us with (Duane) Schwab passing, with his celebration of life Friday and his funeral on Saturday so it's been a long week," said Royals head coach Danny Mertens. "We stuck after it and a win is a win."
The Royals (18-13, 8-6 Mon-Dak) trailed by five after the first quarter and took over the lead in the second after a Worley field goal with five minutes, 32 seconds remaining before halftime gave them the 24-22 lead. The Royals never trailed by the Tetons (4-26, 1-13) tied the game twice in the fourth quarter after four straight points by Grace Lupumba and after a Averi Ziegler basket broke the tie, Laia Balcells Niubo tied the contest again at 65.
A Stephanie Miller 3-pointer, followed by another Worley basket began the closing run.
"Jordyn Worley had a heck of a day. She carried us really on both ends of the floor. She had a whale of a day and it's good for a sophomore to go out like that," Mertens said.
Kayla Byrne finished with 10 points and Telesia Manumaleuga had nine points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Royals.
Gabriella Capasso scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds and Niubo finished with 11 points and six assists for the Tetons.
Men
Tetons 89, Royals 53
The Royals (9-21, 3-11 Mon-Dak) went on a 12-5 run to pull themselves out of six point deficit in the first half, only to see the Tetons outscore them 55-28 over the second 20 minutes to win going away. The Royals ended the season losing nine of their final 10 games.
"It's disappointing, obviously, not the way you want to finish out the year especially at home," began Jared Marshall, head coach of the Royals. "It's just that shots weren't falling. We couldn't make anything."
The Royals were 18-for-54 for the game from the field. Myles Arnold scored 15 points and had seven rebounds, Beau Feltman had 12 points and seven rebounds and Josh Kihle finished with 10 points for Lake Region State College.
After falling behind 6-0, the Royals began to get back into it. Arnold, who scored all 15 in the first half, scored on four of five consecutive Royals possession, the final basket at 8:13 gave the Royals the 12-11 lead. His two free throws with 5:56 left until halftime gave the Royals a two point lead at 16-14 but a 3-pointer by Shae Linton-Brown gave the Tetons (15-14, 6-8) the lead for good.
Eden Holt went 8 of 15 from beyond the arc and finished with 34 points and Jordan Kellies had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to lead Williston State College.