(Editor's note: DCC Athletics release)
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. - In their second of back-to-back series, Dawson Community College won twice more on the road beating Lake Region State College.
DCC's women scored a 73-60 in Devils Lake, ND.
Dawson Head Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. shared his thoughts, “That game was a great team win. We were so proud of our ladies for digging in and mentally staying grounded throughout the course. We all knew we had some adversity with injuries and without some players that did not travel with us. That didn’t faze us, and our team effort was firing on all pistons tonight. Those ladies played their tails off on both ends of the court.”
Dawson came out the gates on fire winning the first quarter 26-12. They would continue their run going into the half 47-29. The Lady Bucs were outrebounding their opponents 25-13, caused 17 turnovers, and already had 11 steals. Sophomore Tamiya Francis was already in double digit scoring with 12 points. Dawson would showcase an impressive 49% field goal percentage and a perfect 100% making 14-14 foul line shots.
In basketball as always, it is a game of runs, and that’s exactly what happened when Lake Region had a run of their own outscoring Dawson 14-12 and 17-14 in both quarters of the second half. However, it was not enough. The Lady Bucs would eventually finish the game with 22 steals, 16 second chance points, and 35 points off turnovers. Dawson also outrebounded Lake Region 40-33, along with shooting 86% from the foul line.
Francis led the game with 17 points and an impressive 10 steals, along with 3 assists. Six Montana natives combined for a total of 54 points. Brynn Jolma (Winnett) had her first double double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds, along with 2 assists and 1 steal. Brenna Rouane (Columbus) had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals. Sarah Billmayer (Turner) also added 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals. Haley Olson (Richey) did her part with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. Brianna Bergum (Tri-Cities) contributed with 6 points and 4 rebounds. Kiana Miller (Savage) chipped in with 4 points and 2 assists.
Meantime, DCC's men, playing their fourth game in eight days, moved to 4-0 with a 74-66 win against the Royals.
They started out cold from the field, only scoring two points in the first eight minutes of the game and getting down 14-2. The Bucs just couldn’t get it going in the first half, shooting 24% from the field and 18% from 3-point range. Fortunately, they forced 11 first half turnovers and held the Royals to 37% shooting, so they went in the break only down by 6 points, 31-25.
Early in the second half, Dawson caught back up and the teams battled back and forth with 4 ties and 9 lead changes. With eight minutes remaining, sophomore Kell Schwers dove on a loose ball and kicked it ahead to Reggie Martin for a lay-up that put Dawson up by 1 and they held the lead the rest of the way. The Bucs forced 15 more turnovers in the second half and shot 59% from the field and 42% from 3 point range to outscore the home team 49-35 in the final twenty minutes.
Coach Joe Peterson shared his thoughts, “We showed a lot of toughness tonight, playing on the road in the second game on back to back nights and didn’t have the energy at the start and our shots weren’t falling, but they kept battling. Eventually the shots started falling and we gained some momentum. I think we wore them down a little and capitalized on it. Lake Region played solid and executed well. I’m glad we stayed positive and kept fighting for forty minutes.”
Four Bucs finished in double figures led by Jajuan Tot’s 16 points on 7-9 shooting from the field. He also contributed 4 assists. Michael Jok added 14 points along with 5 rebounds, and Reggie Martin had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Charles Lampten had another double double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Dawson's men and women return home Sunday for a double-header showdown with North Dakota State College of Science tipping at 2 p.m.
