Lady Lions Sweep Regular Season Finale

The Lady Lions came into the weekend trying to improve their standing in the NIAC. They faced a very game AFLBS team where both games came down to the wire. The Lions were able to pull off the sweep and gain valuable momentum heading into the NIAC tournament.

In game one, the Lions were able to flex their muscle in all but one category and that was what kept the game close for AFLBS. The Lions shot a better shooting percentage 26.2% compared to 25%, a big difference was the Lions shot 22% from the 3 point line and AFLBS did not make a 3 point attempt on Friday night. The Lions also out shot the Conquerors at the free throw line as well 67% compared to just 32%. The Lions disturbed the ball better than the Conquerors as they had 6 more assists than AFLBS. Where AFLBS made this a game was on the glass, as AFLBS out rebounded the Lions 51-35, which led to a 16 -1 2nd chance point difference.

They pulled out a 48-45 win on Friday night, where the Conquerors were ahead after the first quarter and had their largest lead of the game with 8:27 left in the 2nd quarter at the score of 16 to 8. That's when the Lady Lions responded with a 19 to 6 run to end the first half up 27-22. AFLBS would out score the Lady Lions by two points in the 2nd half but would come up short as the Lady Lions held on to the 48 to 45 victory. The Lady Lions had three players in double digits as La'Anna Golden scored 13, followed by Kennedy Nofziger with 11 and Chambre Droste with 10. Camryn Shockley played very well as she led the Lady Lions in rebounds with 14, assists with 6, tied with Chambre Droste with the team lead in steals with 4 and also added 2 blocks to go with 7 points. Abreenna Knudsen added 5 points of the bench and Kayla Barnett rounded out the scoring with 2 points. AFLBS had two ladies in double digits with Bobbie Jo Alverson recording a double-double with 12 points and 18 rebounds; Kalei Kerby also added 11 points.

Saturday saw more of the same for the Lady Lions as again they pulled off another win this time being 65-63 point win. This game statistically was a coin flip as the Lady Lions shot 38% from the field compared to AFLBS 37%; AFLBS did shoot better at the 3-point line and free throws then the Lady Lions. The biggest difference was the Lions won the battle of the boards with an outcome of 40 to 34 and also tallied 8 more assists. The Lions scored 8 more points in the paint but AFLBS out scored the Lions by 5 in second chance points.

The Conquerors started the game down by 2 at the first then proceeded to control the game well into the 3rd quarter using a full court press to stifle the Lady Lions. With 6:02 left in the 3rd quarter AFLBS looked as if they had conquered the Lions being up 13 points after a 3-point jumper made by Kalei Kerby. The Lions closed the gap over the last 6 minutes as the clawed back to within 8 points going into the last frame. The Lions owned to 4th quarter out scoring AFLBS 18-8, including a 16-0 run to start the quarter. The Lions were led by 3 double-double performances, Kennedy Nofziger had 13 points and 10 assists in the game, La'Anna Golden and Chambre Droste had more conventional double-doubles with La'Anna team leading 15 points and 10 rebounds, Chambre added 13 points and a team high 11 rebounds. Camryn Shockley also added 14 points, which included 6 rebounds, a team high 5 steals, and 3 assists as well. Katie VanderEide and Kayla Barnett each added 4 points and Abreena Knudsen rounded out the scoring with 2 points. AFLBS had three players in double digits lead by Kalei Kerby's game high 24 points.

With the sweep the Lions moved into the 5th seed and will take on Turtle Mountain Community College, on Friday the 15th at 2:45pm in Sisseton. The Lady Lions have lost both matchups to TMCC but both were games that could have gone both ways in Fort Berthold.

Tanner Twigg

SID