Lady Broncos sweep league games, playoffs begin next week

The Lind-Ritzville Lady Broncos surged ahead as the end of the regular season draws nearer, winning a pair of league games last weekend to improve to 6-3 in league play on the season.

It was a dominating weekend for the Lady Broncos, which started with a road tilt against the Tekoa-Rosalia Timberwolves in Tekoa on Jan. 25. In the teams' first matchup earlier this season on Jan. 11, LRS imposed their will on the Timberwolves at home, winning 68-28. And on Jan. 25, it was more of the same.

The Lady Broncos led from the beginning, holding at 19-6 lead after one quarter and taking a 31-11 lead into the break. Tekoa-Rosalia was held to just 7 points in the second half, as LRS went on to win the game 55-18.

Junior Eliza Galbreath led the way with a game-high 20 points. Fellow post player Dakota Killian, a freshman, finished in double figures with 10 points, as did sophomore Linnea Schafer, who also scored 10 points. Senior Brooke Koch added nine points for the Lady Broncos. Killian also grabbed 13 rebounds in the game, a season-high.

"We got out [to a quick start], and we've talked a lot about that this week," said Lady Broncos head coach Steve Wellsandt. "We were able to do a few things that we want to keep working on, so that was good for us."

The Lady Broncos returned home the next day on Jan. 26 to take on the Asotin Panthers for the second time this season. Like they did against Tekoa-Rosalia, LRS dominated the first matchup between the teams earlier in the season, downing Asotin 56-27 in their Jan. 12 tilt.

It was more of the same in this game, with the Lady Broncos taking a 23-10 lead into the half. Asotin didn't get on the scoreboard until the second quarter, as they were outscored by LRS 16-0 in the first quarter.

The second half was just as dominant for the Lady Broncos, outscoring the Panthers 29-9 to win the game 52-19. It was a weekend of strong defensive performances for LRS, holding their opponents to under 20 points in both of their games. Prior to this weekend, the fewest amount of points a team had scored against the Lady Broncos had been the 27 points that Asotin scored on Jan. 12.

Schafer led all players in scoring with 15 points, while Galbreath scored 13 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and recorded three steals in the victory. Killian and sophomore Julia Klein each finished with eight points, while Koch scored six points. Schafer dished out five assists in the game as well.

"Defensively we played really well this weekend," said Wellsandt. "But our turnovers were also down in both of these games, which is was also a good thing. So I was really pleased. These are games we thought we could win, but you've still got to go out and do it. You can't get complacent."

With one league game remaining in the regular season, the Lady Broncos currently sit in third place in the Northeast 2B South with a 6-3 league record (9-10 record overall), one game behind the second-place Colfax Bulldogs. But LRS own the tiebreaker over Colfax due to beating them in both of their games this season, so a Colfax loss to first-place Liberty and a Lady Broncos win over the Reardan Indians this week would give LRS the South's No. 2 seed in the Northeast 2B Conference Tournament, which would give them a first-round bye in the tournament.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Reardan to take on the Indians on Feb. 1. Reardan won the first matchup between the two teams on Jan. 4, 45-43. If Reardan-who currently has a 5-3 record in league play-were to beat LRS again, they would finish with the South's No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, and the Lady Broncos would finish with the No. 4 seed.

"I'm sure we're going to be ready to play this weekend against Reardan," said Wellsandt. "[Reardan's] taught to play physical and they have some good quickness, but we want to go up there and get a win and see what happens over the next week with the playoffs."

Tip-off against Reardan is set for 6 p.m.