The Lady Broncs were fresh off two losses from tough Black Hills Conference opponents when they showed up at Douglas High School on January 6th.
They came away with the win this time, making it clear they were the better team with a score of 64-36. Their margin of lead was only two points at the end of quarter one with a score of 14-12.
Reese Larson and Lily Nore had a hot start contributing 4 and 7 points, respectively, in the opening minutes. Sloan Young and Mataya Ward came alive in the second quarter to gather 8 and 6 points in that quarter alone.
The Patriots lost some momentum and the score at halftime was 31-21. It was Larson and Nore who helped the Broncs continue to separate themselves throughout the third quarter, resulting in a 45-31 score. Ward then scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and was joined on the books by a bucket from 5 different teammates as the Broncs ended the game victorious 64-36.
Four Broncs were in double digits with Ward, Nore, Young, and Larson scoring 16, 14, 13, and 12 points.
Belle Fourche Defeats Lead-Deadwood
The Broncs opened the game with 3 unanswered buckets, setting the tone. Lead was unable to handle the full court pressure when they called a timeout just under a minute in. The home team would go on to score an additional 10 points before Lead-Deadwood could get on the board. The score at halftime was 39-7. The Broncs rotated through all ten players and ran some new plays. They continued to grow their lead margin throughout the second half, finishing the game and securing the win 53-12. Ward had 20 points for the Broncs followed by Nore with 17. Young chipped in another 12.
Lady Broncs vs Hill City Rangers
The 6-3 Broncs traveled up into the heart of the Black Hills to take on the 7-2 Hill City Rangers on the 16th.
Hill City caught the jump ball, but Nore jumped a pass to gather a steal on the opening play. Ward had an easy put back for the first points scored in the game. Hill City answered with a quick drive to the basket. Ward finished with another quick layup to make it 4-2 in the first minute of play. Nore hit a 15 foot jumper and the Broncs took the 6-2 lead. The Rangers called an early timeout to regain composure. After a speedy start, both teams fell into a defensive game for the middle minutes of the quarter.
Score at the end of the first quarter was 14-10. It wasn’t until 5:15 left in the second before any points were scored during the period with Hill City finding the hoop on a fast break play.
Hill City found another two points to tie the game 14-14. Two more minutes went scoreless when Ward grabbed her own rebound to grab the lead again. The Rangers tied it back up in the following play, 16-16. Young drove to the hoop at 1:10 left of the half to put the Broncs up 18-16. The Rangers scored a free throw. Scoring 4 points within the last 25 seconds of the half, Hill City took their first lead at 21-18.
Each team started the second half with defensive stops. Hill City’s, 6’2” Division I commit came alive in the third quarter. She scored on a baseline out of bounds play for 2 more points for the Rangers. They followed with a free throw keeping the lead with a score of 24-18 for the home team in green and gold. Ward hit a free throw to break the Broncs scoring drought at 5:37. Two Ranger free throws put them back up, but Nore hit both of her free throws right after to keep the pace.
Hill City caught a scoring run for the next minute and a half bringing their score margin even more to 30-21. Nore hit back to back buckets off dishes from Ward to bring the Broncs back within four points. Starting quarter four with a 28- 32 disadvantage, Young found a posted-up Ward who scored on the opening play to be back within 2 points. The Rangers went on to score 9 points to the Broncs’ 6 to keep the lead at 41-36 with 3 minutes left in the game. The Rangers scored a three pointer, taking the 8 point lead.
The Broncs were able to get a quick steal on the press which found Ward underneath to be fouled on the shot. Ward made both free throws bringing it back within 6. The Rangers scored another 2 points and then Ward drove to the hoop for two points to maintain the 6 point differential with 35.9 left in the game. After jumping a pass under the Ranger hoop, Nowowiejeski dished it quick to the other end of the court for another Ward bucket. There was 12.9 left when the Rangers inbounded the ball and the Broncs immediately fouled.
The Hill City player made both of her free throws. A Bronc three pointer was missed, forcing the purple team to foul again. One of the two free throws was made for the Rangers this time and the time ran off the clock before the Broncs could throw up another shot.
The Hill City Rangers came out victorious 49-44. Ward had 21 points and Nore had 15 for the Broncs.
The Lady Broncs were supposed to travel to Winner on the 18th, but the game was postponed due to weather.
The Lady Broncs will host Custer in their next home game on February 3rd. C games starting at 11am.
They will then host conference foe Rapid City Christian the following Tuesday, the 6th, at 7pm.
