Lady Royals Open Up Season with Win Over Williston

It's been a long time coming for the Royals. After limited summer court time, a season postponement to January 2021, and nine combined scrimmages, both Lake Region State College men's and women's teams opened their seasons up against Williston State at the Sports Center. While neither team hasn't played a competitive game in 10 months, neither squad wasted time in getting back into the groove of things.

In the women's game, the Lady Royals would pop off from 3-point range, seeing sophomore guards Maddy Leaf and Kayla Byrne lead the offensive effort with 15 points, jumpstarting LRSC to a 62-53 win over the Lady Tetons. In the men's game, the Royals would play off of 44 Williston State fouls to surge to 52 points in the second half for a 91-61 win over the Tetons. 

Amongst all the changes going on around the team, the Lady Royals have also been working in three new late additions who arrived less than a month ago: freshman guards Marta Lopez, Laura Ribo, and Zoe Ebbitt. While the additions aren't a bad thing to the squad, the additions have led LRSC to draw up some new plans late in order to work the trio into the mix. However, one element that the three have added to the Lady Royal's game is overall speed. 

"We're still trying to find ourselves and with those three, they've brought a lot of speed to us that we didn't have the first semester," Lady Royals head coach Danny Mertens said. "We're still trying to find everyone's identity and seeing what people can do and where they need to be, but I thought we made big strides today compared to what we've done the last two weekends." Create Account

While Ebbitt didn't play Wednesday night, Lopez was apart of the starting five, finishing with nine points and five pulldowns, and Ribo would see some action as well. Before Wednesday's win, the Lady Royals did get some playing time in exhibition against Jamestown JV with the new trio. Freshman guard Josie Bordina said that the three challenged the rest of the team to keep up and push the ball even faster. 

"This was probably our best game," Brodina said. "We've improved a lot from Jamestown JV, and that was our first time playing with each other. It's different because they are so much faster and quicker, and it really challenged us in practice. Our offense in practice goes from here to here in practice, so they really push us and make us better." 

Where the Lady Royals found the bulk of their success was from outside the arc, as they would drain eight shots from deep on the night to the Lady Tetons one. Leading that charge was Brodina, who saw a team-leading 4-5 shots from deep fall, finishing with 12 points on the night.

"I really have to give the credit to my teammates for giving me those scoring opportunities," Brodina said. "They gave me good passes, found me, and set me up well. It takes a lot of practice and concentration." 

The Lady Royals lead throughout the game, but they never could quite run away with the lead as Williston State found ways to stay within striking distance. In the fourth quarter, with the Lady Royals up nine, the Lady Tetons would capitalize on LRSC fouls and turnovers to go on an 8-4 run and pull within five of tying the game. It was then that Mertens would call a timeout and ask why his team wasn't communicating with each other. After the quick pause, the Lady Royals would go on an 8-5 run, with a complete 3-point play made by Leaf all putting LRSC up by 11, to close out the game. 

"We lacked in communication and when we don't talk, we gave up a foul, a 3, and some free throws," Mertens said. "It's things that a little communication can take care of that won't put us in those situations." 

While Leaf may be the smallest player on the roster, standing at 5-feet 5-inches, she has capitalized on her speed to make her one of the Lady Royals' strongest weapons on offense. Last season, she would down 320 points, averaging 9.7 a game. On Wednesday night she would put up the most shots from the field and tie for the highest completion mark, downing 4-13 from the field overall. At the line, she shot for 6-7 to add to her overall total. 

"She's [Leaf] is a phenomenal scorer for us," Mertens said. "She doesn't realize how good she is and when she gets going, she's tough to stop, and that's what's going to make us good. She can distribute the ball too. I think she found Josie for a couple of hers 3's tonight, so she sees the floor so well and she's so decisive. That's why she scored over 2,000 points in high school." 

The Lady Royals are still looking to better their game, but have seen major improvement from playing less than a week ago. In working with new additions and a new style of play, Brodina said the team effort was what really propelled LRSC to victory. The Lady Royals have a day off before traveling to Wahpeton to take on North Dakota State College of Science on Friday. 

"We played well as a team and didn't force anything," Brodina said. "We took the good shots, played good defense, talked, hustled, won the offensive rebounds and turnovers. We just competed."