Lady Broncos need a few breaks in districts

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos went into the district basketball tournament Wednesday against Northwest Christian. Having lost to NWC twice, head coach John Galbreath was hopeful his players learned something along the way.

Results of the game were not available when the newspaper went to press on Wednesday morning.

“I don’t think NWC plays its best basketball at the end of the year,” Galbreath said. “I am looking forward to a better game. We have to control the tempo and not let them run.”

A win will put the Lady Broncos in the District 7 semi-finals on Friday, Feb. 1, at 3:30 p.m. at Mt. Spokane High school against the winner of the Davenport and Colfax game.

If LRS loses the opening game, they will advance to a loser-out contest against the loser of the Colfax and Davenport pairing. That game will be played Feb. 1 at 3:30 p.m. at Mead High School.

Galbreath has asked his players to bring their best efforts.

“I told them the regular season gets you ready for playoffs,” he said. “You take what you learned and put it into play and lay it all out on the line. There’s no reason to hold back. You want to have the opportunity to keep playing.”

The Lady Broncos finished the regular season last weekend, hosting Colfax on Friday and traveling to St. George’s on Saturday. They lost both games, falling to Colfax 42-21 and St. George’s, 52-34.

“I don’t think Colfax played that well and I know we didn’t play that well,” Galbreath said. “We had our dry spells where we couldn’t put the ball in the ocean. We struggled offensively and they slowed the game down with their press.”

As a team the Lady Broncos made 9 of 43 field goal attempts or just 21 percent of their shots. At the free throw line they converted one of 11 attempts.

The LRS players were all held to single digit scoring. Jenna Bennett and Brooke Pichette led the team with five points each. Kristine Lamping contributed three points while Randi York, Dalyn Killian, Mallory Kessler and Maya Wahl each scored two.

Killian had six rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. Haley Oestreich, Sydney Nelson and Mariah Kiel each had three rebounds.

Galbreath said the St. George’s loss was disappointing because the team was flat.

“Both games I was just disappointed at how flat we were,” he said. “It didn’t mean a whole lot in terms of placing. But you want to see some rhythm, you want to see some life out of your players.”

The Lady Broncos finish the regular season in sixth place in league with a 4-10 record and 7-13 overall season effort.

Galbreath said the team had better looks against St. George’s but still struggled to convert. They sank 29 percent of their field goals, making 13 of 45. At the free throw line they were much improved, making 55 percent of their shots, converting six of 11.

Bennett led the team scoring with 11. Killian had nine points and Lamping finished with seven. Kessler scored four and Pichette finished with three points.

Killian had 10 rebounds, four steals and one blocked shot.

Lamping grabbed five rebounds and had three steals.

Bennett had four rebounds and two steals.