Lady Royals Run out of Gas Against Miles

For the first 20 minutes of the contest, Lake Region State College and Miles Community College played practically to a stalemate.

Then the second half occurred.

The Royals shot just 27.8 percent while allowing the Pioneers to shoot at a 50 percent clip as Miles Community came away with the 83-69 win over the Royals Wednesday, Jan. 15.

"We ran out of gas. That's the bottom line," said Royals head coach Danny Mertens. "We played well for three quarters. The rebounds were nearly tied (44-42 Pioneer advantage), we won the turnover battle, the two things we wanted to do but we just ran out of gas."

Kayla Bryne scored 16 points to lead four Royals players in double figures. Maddy Leaf scored 12 points, Jordyn Worley had 11 points and Jadyn Pollert had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Lake Region State which trailed by one at halftime and took the lead 19 seconds into the second half after two Pollert free throws. But a 3-pointer by Olyvia Pacheco gave the Pioneers the lead for good

After holding Miles to 37 first half points, the Royals (12-8, 2-1 MonDak) were outscored 46-34 in the second, including giving up 28 fourth quarter points.

Miles Community College's Binta Salwu scored 26 points to lead all scorers. She also had six rebounds and eight assists. Pacheco scored 20 points, had nine rebounds, four assists and two steals and Claire Borot finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for the Pioneers (11-8, 3-0) who won their fourth game in a row.