Lady Broncos search for momentum

A tough league loss at home and a double overtime loss in a nonleague outing, gave the Lady Broncos a bit of a rough start to the New Year. They rebounded Saturday with a 65-9 dismantling of Royal City in a nonleague contest.

Prior to that, LRS lost on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 2, to St. John-Endicott, 65-58, after making an impressive comeback and forcing double overtime. Then Friday at home, they were picked apart by the St. George’s Lady Dragons, 44-37.

“Ultimately we just let them control the tempo of the game in the second half,” head coach John Galbreath said of the league loss to the Lady Dragons. “And, we had talked about that all week long. We had to have that game to be in fourth. Now we’re in a dog fight for fifth.”

Dalyn Killian continued to be a scoring leader for the team with 16 points. She also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Mallory Kessler contributed seven points, four rebounds and one block. Brooke Pichette had six points and seven rebounds.

Jenna Bennett scored three. Randi York and Maya Wahl each scored two and Mariah Kiel had one point.

Saturday on the road, the Lady Broncos took Royal City apart.

Galbreath said the nonleague opponent has had a difficult season. He used the game as an opportunity to play everyone on the roster.

It showed in the team scoring as everyone had points, while no one was in double figures.

Wahl led the team with nine points. Kiel and Pichette each scored eight. Kristine Lamping, Bennett, and Haley Oestreich each scored seven.

Killian and Sydney Nelson each finished with six points.

Kessler had five points and York two.

“I think we are improving little by little,” Galbreath said. “It’s tough because it is still not translating to the win column. We still have a long ways to go. We’re playing better defense, executing and rebounding a little better. The second half of the season will determine things now that the other teams have all seen us.”

In the St. John-Endicott battle, Killian led the team with 19 points and 16 rebounds.

Kessler scored 13 with five rebounds.

Pichette contributed eight points and four rebounds.

Bennett scored six in the game and had five rebounds.

York, Nelson and Oestreich each scored four.

Galbreath has struggled to find the right formula that keeps the team successful in all four quarters of the game. Against the SJE Lady Eagles, the Lady Broncos were up 10-1 after the first quarter and then trailing 31-14 at the half.

“They went on a 30-4 run, how in the world did we let that happen,” Galbreath asked?