by Matt Schrank, Coach
What a great weekend for the Lady Dragons! We participated in the yearly Big East Conference Tournament last weekend and went 3-0 on our way to become the BEC Tournament Champions.
On Thursday, we opened as the 3 seed against the 6 seeded Chester Flyers. We played them 2nd game of the year and won the game by 13 points after leading 25-1 at one point. We talked about how much better the young team has gotten and decided to try a few new things defensively. The game went back and forth as both teams made good runs to keep the game competitive. A lot of points were scored in the game and we eventually wore them down for the 75-60 victory.
The great part about the box score in this game was that we scored so many points, but yet had a balanced scoring attack. Jaelyn Benson and Sydney Olson led the way with 13 points, Lily Ranschau had a great night with 12 points, 10 steals, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds. Jordyn Williams was also in double figures with 10. Rounding out the scoring was Raegen Altman with 9, Kylie Christensen with 6, Logan Bly and Mya Long had 5, and Anna Jones had 2 points and 11 rebounds.
On Friday, we faced Sioux Valley for the first time this season. They were voted the 2-seed and came into the game with a 9-3 record.
We came out on fire and led after the 1st quarter 22-10 and led 32-17 at the half. Sioux Valley is a very good team and didn’t back down.
They had a great 3rd quarter and we couldn’t find our rhythm on offense. They closed the gap to 38-32 after 3 quarters. The 4th quarter started the same and Sioux Valley took a 44-40 lead.
We called a timeout and came together in the huddle and finished the game on a 12-0 run to win the semifinal matchup 52-44. Logan Bly had her coming out game and led the way with 20 points and 13 rebounds. She also chipped in 4 steals. Jaelyn Benson was the only other double digit scorer with 10 points, but had a stellar game on defense holding Sioux Valley’s best player to 3 points while guarding her. Lily Ranschau kept her good season going with 9 points. Anna Jones had 10 rebounds.
In the championship game on Saturday night, we found ourselves in a rematch with the Flandreau Fliers. They were ranked 3rd in Class A prior to the matchup, and 3 weeks earlier took it to us on our home floor with a 55-29 victory.
We were excited to get another opportunity to play them and decided to switch up our defense. It paid off as Flandreau came out and struggled offensively early, as did we, and we led by a slim 11-8 margin after the 1st quarter.
The second quarter was a brand of good basketball by both teams. Each team answered the call and the game went back and forth. We led 28-24 going into halftime.
The 3rd quarter saw a big run for the Flandreau Fliers as they took their first lead of the game, but we again answered with a little run of our own and led by 1 going into the final quarter, 44-43.
The 4th quarter was full of excitement, nerves, and big shots. Logan Bly started the quarter off with a shot in the middle of the defense followed by 1 of her 5 made 3s on the next possession. Flandreau took the lead, but coming back down in consecutive possessions, Ranschau had a bucket in the middle and then a kick-out 3 on an offensive rebound by Bly. Bly made one more 3-pointer then it was free throws to end the game.
A 63-55 final to become the BEC tournament champs for the first time since the 2010-2011 season. Logan Bly continued her great weekend with 19 points (5-10 from 3), and grabbing 6 rebounds. Ranschau had 16 points and 6 rebounds. Jaelyn Benson had 11 points and Mya Long chipped in with 7. Kylie Christensen and Jordyn Williams each had 4 points, and Anna Jones added 2 points and 8 rebounds.
