(pictured: Arena Plenty)
In the last game of the conference season, the Dawson Lady Bucs (7-7, 15-16) were unable pull out a victory against first place Bismarck State College (12-2, 26-4), losing 76-91.
Dawson started the game off in winning fashion taking a 25-18 lead after the first quarter, but lost the rest of the quarters with the 3rd quarter being the killer, 35-19. The Lady Bucs went into halftime leading 43-40, but the scoring power of the Lady Mystics kicked into gear after intermission. Bismarck was able to convert 23 points off of Dawson’s 22 turnovers. Dawson outrebounded Bismarck 50-46 and won the 2nd chance points battle 21-15, but the scoring power of Courtney Olson and Amber Stevahn was too much for the Lady Bucs. Both Olson and Stevahn had 23 points apiece, with Olson adding 12 rebounds. Bismarck also shot 23-29 on free throws, while Dawson only shot 12-20.
Head Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. said, “It was a really good first half for us, but it takes two halves to win a game. Bismarck is number one for a reason, and if we are to beat them, we have to be ready in almost every category. I’m super happy our women played so hard tonight. They never gave up. And if we do not give up, we already know these games can go our way at times. We’re excited for tournament action this week.”
Tamiya Francis led both teams in scoring with 27 points, along with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Ashya Klopfenstein had another double double with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Ashley Orozco contributed 9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals.
Dawson will play Lake Region State College this Friday in the opening game of the Region XIII tournament in Bismarck this Friday, February 28th. Dawson is the #5 seed and Lake Region is #4. The winner of that game will play #1 Bismarck State College on Saturday in the semi-finals.