Lady Broncos prepare for a chance at the state tournament

After taking the third seed into the Sub-Regional Tournament the Lady Broncos lost their first game to the number one seed, the Colfax Lady Bulldogs.

This put them into a loser-out game against their league rivals and the number four seed from the District Tournament, the Reardan Lady Indians.

After a few minutes of scoreless play the Lady Broncos got on the board and by the end of the first quarter, LRS held the lead 12-7.

They continued to deny the Lady Indians scoring opportunities in the second quarter while capitalizing on open looks at the hoop and fast break opportunities. By halftime the Lady Broncos extended their lead to 29-14.

In the third quarter head coach John Galbreath began to rotate in the Lady Broncos auxiliaries but they continued their scoring dominance over the Lady Indians. The fourth quarter started with LRS holding a 44-20 lead.

With both teams rotating in their bench the Lady Broncos defeated their opponents 65-36 and secured an opportunity to compete in the first round of state competition.

Tommi Swannack lead the Lady Broncos is scoring with 14 points. Coach Galbreath said the contribution from the team was really balanced, with most of the Lady Broncos recording points during the contest.

Mallory Kessler added another 12 points for her team. Holly Nygren added 10 points in the second half as well as defensive pressure against the Lady Indians, forcing multiple turnovers.

Peyton Curtis scored seven points while Felicia Ziemer and Jenna Bennett hit six points. Rounding out the Lady Broncos’ scoring was Madison Harder with five points, Tessa Jantz with four points and Kallie Harder with one point.

Galbreath said the Lady Broncos’ intensity during the game was good and the Lady Broncos made good adjustments to their opponents.

“I thought that our girls were really mentally dialed in and I thought we played extremely well…” Galbreath said. “It was a good win in a loser-out situation.”

With a win on Feb. 20 the Lady Broncos faced the Northwest Christian Lady Crusaders on Feb. 21 to decide the seeding into the state tournament.

In the first half of their game against NWC the Lady Broncos kept pace with their opponents and at the half trailed by nine points. The third quarter was the most difficult for the Lady Broncos and they scored only six points to the Lady Crusaders 14.

In the final quarter the Lady Broncos were able to outscore their opponents 15-12 but it was not enough to overcome the deficit from the third quarter and the Lady Crusaders took the third seed into the state tournament 61-47.

Galbreath said the team seemed tired against Colfax and was a step slow in setting up their offense and defense against the Lady Crusaders.

Mental focus was also lacking for the Lady Broncos but Galbreath said that was expected considering the tragedy from this weekend.

“It is frustrating but at the same time the girls were dealing with the circumstances of the accident that took place so I know it was hard to be mentally focused too with what was going on,” Galbreath said.

Many of the Lady Broncos did not get any sleep prior to the contest, but Galbreath said despite this the team competed well for a majority of the game.

Curtis led the Lady Broncos’ scoring efforts on Saturday with 12 points against the Lady Crusaders.

Kessler added another nine points with eight rebounds during the contest and Bennett recorded another eight points for her team.

The Lady Broncos’ next opponent is the Napavine Lady Tigers. They will meet Feb. 28 in Tumwater.

This game will be a loser-out contest with the winner advancing as one of the top eight teams to the 2B Hardwood Classic Basketball State Tournament in Spokane.

It is difficult to scout Napavine, Galbreath said, because they have not played against any of the teams LRS has this year, which makes it difficult to gauge their players and prepare.

“We know what style they want to run, we just need to make sure that we defend it correctly,” Galbreath explained.

On offense Galbreath anticipated the Lady Broncos would have great looks at the hoop in all of their offensives sets.

“It’s going to come down to not just going through the motions and running the play in the game but actually executing it,” Galbreath said.

Napavine likes to run the floor and advance the ball along the sides of the courts.

Instead of set plays and structure, Galbreath explained the Lady Tigers use a lot of “drive and kick” to create open shot opportunities on the perimeter.

“It’s more of a system that they play within,” he explained. “That system is a lot of getting up and down the floor and shooting the first open shot you get and driving and kicking if you’re not open.”

The Lady Broncos will rely on man-to-man defense to prevent Napavine from getting the open shot opportunities on the perimeter. Galbreath said they would also mix in a zone defense to throw off the rhythm of their opponents.

The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at Tumwater High School. Admission to the game is $10 for adults and students without their ASB Cards, $8 for students with their ASB Cards and seniors age 62 and up and children 5-year-olds and under get into the game free.